What A Long Hard Life
by Lucy Labrador
Summary: Shadow's life isn't getting easier, especially since his discovery during a solo mission for GUN. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 1: A Disturbance In The South**

**For those of you who actually liked my first story, 'Shadow The Hedgehog: Why Do I Suffer So Much!' this is a remake. But this time, I've improved on all of my mistakes in the last one. You'll see why when you read it. I'm so exited about writing this, and I hope the remake is really worth it. **

Shadow was stood to attention in the command room of GUN. He was now working for this military, with his companion, Rouge. He had joined them after the Black Arms attack, to make up for the bad things he had done during that awful time. He hoped the strict Commander would forgive him eventually.

GUN were really happy to have Shadow on their side, he did them well in battles and against threats and terrorists. They hoped Shadow would stay with them for as long as possible, as he was now a necessary ally for many missions.

Shadow would normally have many soldiers to work with him, and command. He was a higher rank than them, along with Rouge. She too was a higher ranked soldier because of her skills, and the two of them worked very well together.

Shadow awaited his orders, and was surprised when he received them. It was a solo mission, that required his skills only. Since it was a stealth mission, it would have been very daft to have soldiers around him while sneaking up on something.

So, he went it alone. He hadn't done this for a while so it made him slightly nervous, but he didn't show it, as that was unthinkable for the ultimate life form to do so. Thus, he grabbed his tools and objects needed for the task, and headed out.

He was greeted at the door by Rouge. "Good luck Shadow… though I'm sure you'll do very well." she said and winked at him. Shadow gave a slight smile and strode out of the door. This was it.

His task was to check up on suspicious activity, in an area far south of Station Square. It had been going on for a while, and it was obvious that Shadow was best suited for the job. The dark hedgehog started his journey, making his way out of station square, getting on the train that headed south.

He didn't like the looks he got when we was on the train, humans would always stare at him, as if he were some freak. Though he was a freak to them. He would just scowl at any person who looked at him in an unpleasant way and looked forward to the end of the train journey.

He wondered why GUN had made him get onto the train, when he was pretty much capable of using chaos control to teleport there in a second, "Such a waste of my time-" Shadow started to mumble, but then it all went dark. They were in a tunnel. Even though he knew it was safe, it made him feel uneasy.

The lights inside of the train went dim, then the light ceased completely. Scared mumbles were heard as the rumble of the train stopped, there was silence. "Typical." Shadow said to himself and got up. He had a better ability than the humans, to see in the dark.

A message from the front came from one of the assistants. The train had broken down, due to power shortages, so they all had to stay put. The assistant with the torch had explained to them. "Just my luck for the train to stop… in a tunnel." Shadow sighed, and sat down looking impatient. "Should have argued against the commander, to use chaos control." he said to himself, and got out his communicator and explained his situation.

"That's a part of the suspicious activity…" the voice on the other line said. "The whole area keeps getting power cuts, and no one knows why. Something has caused this, and it's most likely nothing a few repair men can deal with." Shadow listened, he noticed the other people in the train were listening too.

"Just a sec." Shadow said, he got up with his stuff and went into the little toilet on the side of the cabin.

"Sorry sir, but that's out of order." the assistant told him. Shadow sighed and showed him his GUN badge.

"I need some privacy." he said and went inside. He used the toilet as his seat and continued to listen to the information given, this was very strange. It sounded very suspicious too, he couldn't wait to investigate and get to the bottom of things.

After a while, the lights came back on and the humming of the train stared up again. Shadow turned off his communicator and went back to his seat. He was glad no one had taken it, he was really tired of this already.

When the train had finally reached it's destination Shadow was relived. He was sent the coordinates of the exact location on his communicator, and that was it. He was on his own, he would only ask for help if absolutely necessary, this was serious.

He got to the target, and right in front of him was a narrow hole. Just big enough, for him to get into. He squeezed through and fell a few feet, landing on his feet flawlessly. Again, it was dark but he didn't want to disrupt the surroundings, or he could endanger himself.

His heart beat sped up slightly, and his breathing more desperate, but he tired to keep it as quiet as possible. Something didn't feel right. It was as if he could sense the cause of this suspicious activity. He could see a dim light at the end of the narrow tunnel, that was becoming wider with each step.

It was a dim reddish-purple light. It reminded him of something, but what? His memory wasn't always on his side, so he had trouble placing it. He walked into the widened area and what he saw nearly made his heart stop.

Back at GUN HQ the help team, which included Rouge, waited nervously to hear from Shadow. They needed to know what the disturbance was. It had been a few hours since the Train incident, they knew he had gotten to the target, but hadn't heard from him since then.

Suddenly they heard a distraught cry from Shadow, on the communicator, something had happened. Rouge ran to the control panel, to speak to Shadow, she was worried for her friend. "Shadow, come in!" she cried, sounding upset and desperate. No reply. "Shadow!" she said again, only crackling was heard. They'd lost his signal. "Send out a search team!" Rouge said.

The commander, who was stood at the back of the team, shook his head calmly.

"Why not!" she yelled, getting upset. "We have to do something, Shadow never shows fear, to hear him scream like that, shows that this is something serious! We have to help him!" Rouge yelled, anger starting up in her voice.

"There's no need. No matter what, Shadow has always come through, and succeeded each time. Being short of a few of my men, can't have made it any harder for him. We're not going to send anyone miles and miles out, only to find out that Shadow is okay!" he said, starting to yell at the end.

Rouge left the room, she eyes narrowed at him. "And if Shadow doesn't come back in one piece, I'm blaming you." she said and slammed the door behind her. She hoped Shadow would be okay in the end, and that maybe he was off guard for a second and was owning whatever had attacked him.

She was wrong.

**I think this is a good place to end the chapter. Very different from the original, but you'll see the close resemblances in a while, like next chapter.**

**Lucy Labrador **


	2. Chapter 2

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 2: Shame**

**I'm really enjoying this, and I hope you readers are too. Thanks to Hande and Cora Roz for the reviews. **

Shadow stood still, frozen on the spot in fear. In fact, nothing had hurt him, yet. He just hated what he saw. He began to sweat, and shiver. "Please…. No…" he trembled. "This, can't be." Shadow had never been this afraid before in his life, not since the encounter with Black Doom on the Black Comet. Shadow wanted to run, but his legs felt like they were glued to the ground.

Then something leapt at him. He gasped, then screamed out, he was tackled to the floor by a dark monster. He heard his communicator smash. He gasped in realisation, there was no way out. No way to call for help, he looked up at the terrifying site. "Black Doom…" he managed to say through his tears of dread.

A while later Shadow found himself to be sat in the underground cave, his hands and legs tied together by a strange alien material. He struggled with all his might, but he couldn't escape. "Th-this is… insane." Shadow shuddered. "I thought you were… dead!" he said, baring his teeth.

"You didn't kill me. I am immortal, as are you. You cannot kill me." Black Doom said. "I've been hiding here, underground for several months. Recovering from our fight. Reproducing a new army." he said, "We shall rise again, and rule this planet. And you cannot stop us."

"I can and I will!" Shadow yelled out, struggling to get out of his cuffs. Black Doom then held out his hand, as he had once done before. Shadow started to feel even weaker, and his muscles lock up. "Y-you… bastard…"

"It seems my mind control works again." Black Doom said, almost smirking. "And there is NO ONE to help you escape this time." he boasted. Shadow's eyes widened in fear, he was under Black Doom's control, and there was no way out. Black Doom could do anything he liked to Shadow, even torture him.

"S-so…. What are you gonna to with me?" Shadow asked, his voice trembling. "A-and… what exactly has been going on down here?" he asked, his ears drooping down to the side of his head while he shivered, beads of sweat running down his face, as he tried his hardest to stop showing his fear.

"I've never seen you like this before hedgehog… I shall tell you my plans… it's not like you will be able to stop them anyway." Black Doom said arrogantly. "Well, ever since I found this little hiding spot, after our battle, as I have told you… I have been re-spawning my army. But at the same time, I have been slowly taking small amounts of energy from the human's supply of electrify, from this underground tunnel- it is in such a way, that they will never notice a difference." Black Doom said, looking proud until Shadow let out a small chuckle.

"What makes you think the humans will never know?" he said, his scared expression changed to an amused one.

"I calculated it correctly. I am never wrong. It should be just the right amount to take, without them noticing. But over time, our own supply will build up, and build up, then we shall use it against them-" Black Doom stopped as Shadow was now laughing malevolently.

"You fool! That is the reason I was sent down here. The humans have noticed it, it's the only thing on their minds! They keep getting power cuts, and I was sent down here to investigate!" Shadow teased, now feeling a little more confident. "Stop this now Black Doom!"

"Ahem!" Black Doom cleared his throat feeling humiliated. "Abort the plan… we shall just have to do with what we have." he ordered his newly bred soldiers, he narrowed his eyes as he noticed Shadow was still laughing at his fatal mistake. "Silence!" he disciplined him. Shadow was then silent, a bored look on his face. "Let's forget about that… and move onto the revenge…. Shall we?" Shadow began to look uneasy again. "Now, that's the look a like to see…" he hissed.

Shadow gulped, he knew he had it coming now. Black Doom was even more ticked off since Shadow had humiliated him, so he would not go easy on him. No mercy for the poor hedgehog. Black Doom held out his hand again, and Shadow started to feel a light pain in his chest, he gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes at the pain. "And it will get worse." Black Doom proclaimed.

The pain stayed the same for a while, but then it started to slowly grow worse. Shadow hissed and choked at the pain, and struggled as it began to eat away at his soul. He refused to cry, he may have been weak around Black Doom, but not that weak. The agony began to consume him, spreading throughout his entire body, and that was when he screamed, he screamed out and cried out in pain, it was too much for him to take. He struggled around, though his movement was restrained in the cuffs. He struggled as if he was trying to shake off the pain.

The pain was now all over this body, mostly his chest. His felt his muscles tighten, his heart beat quicken and his stomach twist. Then, the tears. 'No' he thought. 'Don't cry, this may be the most horrible thing you've ever felt, but you can't cry!' he thought to himself desperately, but there was no way to stop them. The tears escaped his eyes, rolled down his cheeks and hit the cold, harsh floor.

"So, Shadow… how about we catch up on things. What exactly have you been up to, since our last encounter." Black Doom asked, easing the pain on Shadow a little, so the suffering hedgehog was able to speak. Shadow breathed heavily for a few moments, then got to talking.

"I-I… decided to make up for being bad, by joining GUN and help people… as Maria wished." Shadow said, through his heavy breaths.

"And I thought you'd put your past behind you…" Black Doom sneered. "You just cannot forget that pathetic human, can you?" Shadow looked offended.

"I don't let my memories hold me back any more… but a promise is a promise!" Shadow said angrily. "Working for GUN isn't that bad, I'm a little more respected by the humans, instead of hunted by them, so it has it's benefits. I always have my reasons." he snarled.

"You should have stayed against the humans! You are a pathetic excuse for a son of mine. I should have disowned you the second I noticed you were with the humans." he said, sounding disappointed in Shadow. This hurt Shadow a little bit and not physically. "Well, you are a disgusting hybrid… so I'm not that astounded."

Shadow began to hang his head in shame. Is that really how people saw him? He was a disgusting hybrid, so it seemed. And what he was a mix of, didn't help him. Mobians weren't favoured at all, over humans, and the Black Arms were a hated race after that invasion, and he was both of those things. Unfavoured, and unloved. He wasn't sure, if the commander knew he was made with Black Doom's blood, but he would find out sooner or later.

"I can sense you've been through a lot more than that, hedgehog… it can't have been that easy all along… tell me more." Black Doom said, sounding interested.

Shadow's latest big adventure, was when they went to Soleanna, and Mephiles' words, still chilled him to that day, Shadow told him the story, which left Black Doom a taken aback, and also even more disappointed. "I cannot believe it… you were given many chances, to take your revenge on humanity, and you never took it!" he then sounded furious, he sent a chaos spear at Shadow's face.

Shadow gasped out in pain, as a scratch was left on his face by the attack. "You really are a complete failure." Black Doom complained. "I should kill you here and now." he turned his back on Shadow, unable to look at his own son.

"I… really am a failure…no matter what I do… if I follow Maria's promise, then I've failed you… and if I follow your orders, I've failed Maria… I really am destined to be in the wrong no matter what." he said, getting tears in his eyes again.

It was true, if he followed the law and worked with the humans, Black Doom would punish him with that awful pain, but if he worked with Black Doom, or even think about it, GUN would be after him, and they would put him back on prison island, without trial. He was destined to fail, destined to be punished, destined to suffer.

With Rouge. She was sat in the apartment she and Shadow shared. She missed him so much, they would everything together. They were such close friends, it was like they couldn't do without each other, no matter what. When ever apart, she would feel like there's something missing. She really couldn't go without Shadow. She needed some comfort.

So, she flew over to the floating island to see the person second closest to her, Knuckles. For some advice and reassurance. Over time, Knuckles had gotten used to her visits, and no longer accused her of trying to steal the master emerald.

She arrived, looking upset and lonely, he knew what was wrong. "Shadow's left you?" he assumed. She slightly nodded, walking over to him.

"Not exactly, but you're nearly right. He was given a solo mission, yesterday. And he hasn't returned." She explained, looking worried.

"Shadow's the ultimate life form, you know that, he always pulls through." Knuckles reassured her, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. She shook her head, and told him about the situation, the scream he had made, and how GUN had lost contact, and refused to help him. "Okay… well he's still strong."

"I know… but I fear his life is at risk… or he'll come back seriously hurt, he never, ever shows fear. Never! And for him to scream like that, I know there must have been something awful down there… something that really upsets him. The last time I saw him afraid, was when we encountered Mephiles."

"Do you think it's Mephiles then?" Knuckles asked. Rouge shrugged. "It might be… it might not be… we just have to hope that he'll pull through and come back okay." Knuckles said, Rouge began to cry. "It'll be okay Rouge… why don't you stay here with me tonight… wouldn't want you to be alone in this state." he said, and took her inside his house.

**Aww… still didn't reach my 2000 word target on this one. ): Such a shame. But like the last time, it seemed like a good place to end the chapter. Please review.**

**Lucy Labrador **


	3. Chapter 3

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 3: Take No Sides**

**Not much to say, just that I'm enjoying this and thanks for the reviews!**

Shadow had stopped receiving pain from Black Doom for a while, as Black Doom thought the discomfort Shadow was feeling was enough punishment for him. A certain discomfort that Shadow would not shut up about. "Please…" he begged. "I have to use the bathroom… just give me two minutes-"

"For the last time no!" Black Doom said in an angry voice. He could see that Shadow was wiggling in his cuffs, an urgent look on his face. This made Black Doom sigh.

"Come on… I've been here over a day…" he complained. He saw the serious look on Black Doom's face and shut up. He just looked to the floor, feeling embarrassed, but he needed to relive himself so badly, it hurt. He grit his teeth at the pain and decided to put up with it. Black Doom would never let him go, it would risk escape.

All was silent, Shadow wouldn't make himself look weak again. It was worth asking, but he wouldn't go on about it, it wasn't that urgent. Escaping was a much higher priority. He began to struggle again, while he wasn't under Black Doom's control. After a while of trying to squeeze out of the cuffs, his muscles seized up again. His eyes widened as they did so. "Don't try it hedgehog… what are you going to do when you escape? Report back to the human military?" he asked.

Shadow nodded. "Not before I destroy you!" he snarled. Black Doom began to chuckle. Shadow narrowed his eyes. "What, you don't think that I can do that a second time?"

"No… it's not that… you do realise… that you are working for a very military, that killed Maria." he pointed out. Shadow was speechless, no body spoke for a moment, until Shadow finally spoke up.

"Don't think that I never thought about that." Shadow said sadly. "I know they killed her… and that I'm working for them… but that was 50 years ago… the military have changed… they have learned from their mistakes-"

"They obviously haven't… if they are going to imprison you in the near future. They're still after you hedgehog… you should leave them and join me… we can rule the world together." Black Doom said, but as always, his offer was ignored. Shadow turned his head away from him.

"I'm not joining you… I'm not joining anyone to take any revenge. Why does everyone know my weakness!" Shadow said with frustration.

"Your lust for revenge." Black Doom purred. "You're a vengeful creature, aren't you Shadow… and yet you always resist the temptation. Why Shadow?"

"It's not right… like I've already told you… it was 50 damn years ago! It's not like I can hunt down those soldiers who have retired now, and take revenge on a load of pensioners!" he yelled in and angry voice. "I can't do that!"

"But you can… better yet, get rid of the whole of humanity!" Black Doom enticed, Shadow then had a furious look in his eyes.

"There are some very kind and innocent people in the world! Why would I want to kill them! I am no killing machine!" he roared furiously, the whole of his eyes blazing red. His fur releasing a red mist. "I've had enough of you!" he said, tugging on the cuffs, they crumbled.

Black Doom backed up from his a little, "This is all it takes Black Doom, just make me angry… and you DIE!" he snarled, Shadow had gotten up from the floor, his inhibitor rings flying off. "CHAOS… BLAST!" the whole of the area was engulfed in explosions and flames, Black Doom's body tossed around the room, in many pieces, leaving a very exhausted and shaken hedgehog in the middle of it all.

He felt confused for a while, unsure of what just happened, then he realised. His emotions had taken over, and all of newly spawned Black Arms soldiers, were in pieces, along with their leader. Shadow's vision became cloudy. He groaned, he was weak after using up all of that energy. He picked his rings back up and made his way out of the tunnel slowly, squeezing himself back out of the hole.

After sitting down for a while by himself, it all came to mind clearly, exactly what had just happened, exactly what he had just done. He had killed Black Doom again, he had destroyed his father. Shadow got up. "He was no father to me." he said to himself, and made his way back to GUN HQ.

The commander was in the control room becoming impatient, what was taking Shadow so long? Would he ever return? "Maybe he just wasn't that ultimate after all." he smirked. "Good riddance." he said under his breath.

Right on cue, Shadow came in looking very ticked off. "Shadow, you did it?" the commander said looking surprised to see Shadow. "How did it go-"

"I QUIT!" Shadow yelled, slamming his fist down on the desk. The commander was taken aback. "You heard me, I quit." he snarled and threw his GUN badge down on the desk.

"W-why?" the commander asked, looking astonished.

"This mission has taught me a valuable lesson… that I don't need to be working for your damn military, especially as it's the one that's responsible for Maria's death." he growled. "Do NOT expect me to come back!" he shouted, left and slammed the door behind him.

Shadow entered his apartment, feeling upset. He no longer had a job, Rouge would be so annoyed with him. Wherever she was. "Rouge!" he called out to her. No answer. He sighed, sitting down on the sofa. His heart was racing, that sure was a very intense mission. But at least it had opened his mind up to exactly what he was doing. If the commander was going to send soldiers after him the so be it. He would just fight until physically impossible, until he fell onto the floor with exhaustion.

He then tensed up, as that awful discomfort came back to him, which reminded him exactly what he needed to do. He made a desperate dash for the bathroom, leapt inside and locked the door behind him.

Rouge had just come into the apartment to see a black blur run up the hallway. "Huh? Shadow?" she asked, running up the hall herself. He was no where to be seen, but the bathroom door was locked. From inside she heard a relived sigh, it made her giggle a bit to herself. "I see you're back Shadow." she called from the outside.

"What… Ah, uh Rouge!" she heard from the inside, it was definitely Shadow. She heard the toilet flush the tap go and an embarrassed Shadow come out. "Hi Rouge." he said, his cheeks turning red. He was then crushed by a hug from his companion.

"I was so worried about you!" she said,

"I was worried about me too." he said nervously. "That was the worst experience ever." he said and took her to the living room to talk about it. He told her to story while she listened in shock, all the way up to him quitting. She gasped.

"Shadow!" she said, sounding shocked. "But…why?" she said in a sad voice.

"I… uh… you know why! I realise, that it's wrong… I take no one's side from now on… it only get's me into trouble." Shadow said, sounding frustrated. "No matter which side I take, it's wrong. So, I'm wondering if it'll work to take no side at all." he said. "Help no one… only myself."

Rouge gave a look of disapproval. "A-and my friends of course!" Shadow said urgently. "Don't worry Rouge… I will find another job… just give it some time." he said and went to his room to sulk.

Shadow never got that job, no one would hire him. Because of who and what he was, no one would accept him. Only his friends, and even they were becoming annoyed with him, as he was asking for money every week. Shadow had to make a decision, either burden his friends, or move away. He was only costing them time and money.

So, one night, while Rouge was asleep Shadow made his way to the front door, without his key. He shut the door and did chaos control, Rouge and the others wouldn't see Shadow again for a while.

**Wow, poor Shadow. He's now distancing himself from his friends. **

**Lucy Labrador **


	4. Chapter 4

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 4: An Amazing Discovery**

**Thanks for the reviews. **

Shadow, now alone, was roaming the corridors of the Space Colony ARK. It was the only place he could hide from the humans, and his friends. No one would get him up here. This was now his home, he wanted to stay away from everyone, it would help him with his new plan, not to take sides with anyone. If he sat up in the ARK for the rest of his life, he would upset no one and effect nothing.

The ARK was old and abandoned, and very dusty. The last time he had come here was after the Black Arms invasion, in which he went straight back down to Mobius afterwards. But this time he decided that he would be staying, no matter what.

After walking for a while he found the old lab he was born in. It brought back many memories, good and bad. It made him smile, but also made him frown, in short this place gave him mixed feelings. He walked up to the machine he was made and born in. It was very gritty, dusty and mouldy, so he couldn't see inside the tank.

There was no reason to see though, there was nothing as inside it, well he believed that to be true. He put his hand on the glass, which moved some of the dirt out of place, revealing the inside of the tank. Shadow could see something. "What the…" he started to say, he started to wipe the glass with his gloves, despite the fact it was getting them very dirty.

What he saw inside, sent chills down his spine.

Inside the tank was a hedgehog. It looked nothing like him though, it was a female with yellow-blonde fur, and shoulder length hair. The female was naked, which made Shadow blush as he was looking at a naked woman. It reminded him of someone. It reminded him of "MARIA!" he cried out, as he looked at the paperwork below. 'Project MARIA.' "Why was Gerald doing this?" Shadow asked himself, his voice trembling with shock. "H-how do I awaken it!" he said, searching through the paper work frantically.

Eventually, after reading it for a while, he found out. He read the passage. 'To awaken Project MARIA, you must find the real Maria's soul and attach it to the hedgehog's body. This new body was made through both Maria and Shadow's blood, as a last resort, in case all else fails.' Shadow dropped the paper work in shock. This was Maria, but was the soul attached yet?

He looked at the status of the creature on the computer, picking the paperwork back up, at the same time feeling surprised that the machinery was still running after all of these years. The body didn't have anything that could bring it to life, it was like a doll, a puppet. It was soulless. Which meant, it was no use. Shadow banged his fist against the wall in frustration. His sight began to blur, because of the tears that filled his eyes.

He was so close to getting Maria back, but there was no way to get her soul. It was probably in the afterlife by now. He dropped to his knees in despair. "I'm so sorry Maria… I failed you… again… I could have brought you back… if only I had noticed this so much earlier." he said, his voice choked up as he cried.

After the depression session, he raised to his feet and left the room, throwing the paper work to the floor. He could have really used some comfort then, but there was no one to make him feel better. Only a life less body of Maria, and he wouldn't dare touch it.

He went to find his old room, maybe he could sleep his sadness away. He found the corridors that held all of the rooms, he saw his, and right next door to it, Maria's. It made him sigh sadly, to look at the door, that too brought back so many memories. He wanted to look inside, but he feared that it would only send him into a much deeper depression, so he went into his own room.

It was just how he left it. Perfect. He slid under the covers of the bed and buried his head in the pillow, he just wanted his suffering to end.

When he woke up, he saw, the door, which was on the other side of the room, seemed a little lighter than usual. There was a dim glow there. When Shadow's eyes fully opened and he could see clearly, he noticed this glow took the shape of a human. His eyes widened, it looked like a "Ghost?" Shadow said, going pale. "Wait… you're-"

The ghost left, going through the door. "S-stop!" Shadow cried out, and ran to the door, he opened it and ran after the unknown spirit. He nearly caught up to it, but it went through a wall. "No!" Shadow complained, he had lost it. He had lost her, it certainly looked feminine. "Please… don't be scared… I think I know… who you are…" the desperate hedgehog said nervously, while leaning against the wall. The spiritual young woman came back through the wall. Shadow looked at her a lot closer, his eyes starting to fill with tears.

The girl put her hands over her mouth, also tearing up. "Maria?" he said to her, nearly losing his voice from his nerves. "Is it really you?" the tears flowed freely from his eyes. The girl smiled tearfully and nodded her head slowly. Shadow dropped to his knees, looking up to the girl, as if he was worshiping her. "I-it… really is you…" he choked, "I found your soul…" he said, he got up and grabbed her hand. He could actually physically feel it. "Now I can attach it to your body." he smiled and pulled her down the corridor.

"What? Shadow?" Maria said, sounding confused. "What's going on?" she said sounding afraid, as she was dragged down the corridor by her old companion.

**Well, that was short. ¬_¬ **

**Lucy Labrador**


	5. Chapter 5

**What A Long Hard Life **

**Chapter 5: Just Like A Shadow…**

**I've been getting some good reviews on this. Thanks to Swift, Hande and Omega for the reviews. **

The two of them got to the capsule, Shadow was thrilled to see that Maria's spirit was still on the ARK. He had never felt happier, and he felt it could only get better. He looked into his once lost friends' eyes. "I'm going to bring you back Maria." Shadow said with determination. He pointed to the hedgehog inside the capsule. "Do you understand what this is?" he asked her. She shook her head silently. "It's a hedgehog body, created for your soul. You can live again Maria, with me." Shadow smiled. Maria smiled back. "Can't you speak?" Shadow asked her, noticing the awful silence that came from the girl.

"Y-yes…" she stuttered. "I-I'm just… s-surprised…." she said. "At all of this… I was kind of afraid last night…" she said, her voice going quiet.

"Why?" Shadow asked, holding her hand. "There's nothing to be afraid of… you're a ghost, nothing can harm you." Shadow reassured.

"No… I heard something, someone had come to the ARK… I had no idea who it was. I was in my room, and I heard it go into your room. I was so afraid that it was an intruder, but peaked inside your room to see that it was you… and you were asleep. You looked very cute while you were asleep." she smiled, Shadow blushed at this. " So, I watched you sleep all night. I haven't seen you in such a long time Shadow… I hope nothing brakes us apart again."

"Me too Maria… and it won't! I'm stronger now, so I will do the protecting." he said in a bold voice, "I wouldn't want you to get hurt again for me." he said, swallowing back the need to cry. There was a certain sentence he wanted to say so badly to her, but couldn't find the courage to say, he stood with his mouth open for a while, but nothing came out.

He snapped out of his trance and cleared his throat, he turned away from Maria and had a look at the data on the computer. "I don't know exactly how to attach a soul to a body… it might be something to do with the chaos emeralds." he said, getting one out. "Do I say a fancy rhyme or what?" Shadow said, staring into space with a puzzled expression. "Concentrate my power?" he mumbled to himself. "Right, I know Maria-" he said turning around to where she was, she was gone. "Maria? Was I really thinking for that long?"

Then he heard a weak tap from the inside of the glass, he looked to the tank. The hedgehog had awakened. Shadow gasped a little, stepping back. "What the…" his eyes went wide. The hedgehog tapped on the glass again but more urgently. "Damn, it can't breathe!" Shadow said in an alarmed voice. He ran to the computer and commanded the tank to drain. It then opened.

Shadow caught the hedgehog before she hit the floor, holding the wet and naked body in his arms. He tried to ignore the fact that she was naked. "Maria?" Shadow said, his voice trembling, she was lifeless. "No… Maria…" he buried his head and her wet fur. "I failed you…" he sobbed.

As he was about to put the body on the floor, it gasped, breathing in a mouthful of air frantically, and coughed out some of the fluid that was in the tank. "Shadow…" she rasped. "Thank you…"

"Maria… what's going on?" Shadow said frantically, he had no idea what just happened.

"You didn't have to attach me soul silly… I just entered the body myself…" she smiled weakly. Shadow let her stand on her feet. "I'm going to have a shower… get this weird fluid off me… and find some clothes." she said, the blushed while trying to cover her private parts, though they were covered by luscious yellow fur.

Shadow watched in awe as the newly born teenage hedgehog walked out of the room and down the corridor, slightly tip-toeing as she had bare feet on the cold metallic floor. Shadow nearly drooled at the sight, truth was, he had feeling for her as a human. Yes, he loved her. And now that she was a hedgehog, he had fallen even more deeply in love. Shadow sighed, as she turned the corner and was out of sight.

His knees were weak and his heart was beating fast, but this felt good, in a strange way. Shadow tried to straighten himself up, he'd never felt weakened by love before. He wanted to see her again, soon. Should he sneak up on her and watch her shower?

Shadow shook his head quickly. 'What a dirty thought… I'm sorry Maria…' he thought to himself. He decided to clean the mess in the lab up while he waited. He mopped up all the of the tank fluid that had dripped off Maria' fur, so he wouldn't slip on it. He noticed there was some on his fur too, so he went to the showers to wash like Maria was.

He was so tempted to '_Accidentally_' walk into the same bathroom as Maria was in. He stood outside the door, thinking to him self, what should he do? He sighed to himself. 'No, I can't do that… it's not fair on Maria…' he said, sinking into his thoughts. Sinking so deep he didn't hear the shower stop and the door (That he was leaning against) start to open.

The door flew open, which brought Shadow plummeting down, on top of Maria. She let out a scream, Shadow gasped. He only let out nervous sounds, no words came out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried. He was ashamed. He got off Maria and turned away from her, feeling ashamed. "Shadow… did you need me for something?" she asked, getting up. Shadow didn't move or make a sound. "Shadow, you can turn around, I have a towel over my body, you can't see anything." she said, sounding a slightly annoyed.

Shadow slowly turned around, sweating intensely. "I-I…..I'm so… sorr…. eeee…." he trembled.

"Shadow." Maria sighed calmly. "You Don't have to be sorry… don't ever think I won't like you for one little thing like that, okay?" she said and kissed on him the cheek.

Shadow stopped breathing once she did that. Maria walked off to get some clothes on, while Shadow went into the shower. Not only did he have to get the sticky fluid off him, but he now needed to get the sweat out of his fur too. Once he was behind the door and away from Maria he calmed down. He hoped a nice warm shower would loosen up his tensed muscles, being around Maria really stressed him up.

While in the shower, he began to think about why he acted like that. He knew he was in love with her, but why did he sweat like that? Why did he lose his voice, and have trouble breathing? It was like he was seriously ill. He hoped this would stop soon.

He finished washing and turned the shower off, he began to dry himself. 'It won't stop.' he thought to himself. 'Until I tell her exactly how I feel. She must at least like me back… she did forgive me for what I just did and kiss me.' he smiled and got his gloves and shoes back on. 'I hope she does like me back' he walked out of the shower to go and find Maria.

She was sitting by the large window, looking over earth like they always used to. "Uh… Maria." Shadow said when he saw her, from the door. She turned around, smiling. "Can I… speak to you?" he asked, he felt his voice going at the end again. 'Not now… please.' he begged his nerves. 'This isn't like me… this isn't how the ultimate life form should act!'

Maria nodded, and signalled for Shadow to come and sit down by her. Shadow did exactly that, and looked her in the eyes. Her beautiful blue eyes, like crystals. Just above her cute little black nose. And her lips, they were slightly pinker than her peachy skin, and she wasn't wearing makeup. "Maria… I…" Shadow said, and cleared his throat. "I…" his voice seized up.

"Shadow… is something wrong-" she said, but gasped as Shadow pushed himself into her, and locked his lips with hers. She then accepted the kiss and kissed him back. Her lips, were so tender, and soft.

"I love you!" he cried out, and hugged her tightly. Maria smiled,

"I love you too Shadow…" she said softly, embracing him with her slender arms. Shadow let out a few tears of joy, he tried to hide them. "It's okay to cry Shadow… you don't need to hide it." Maria whispered in his ear, it gave Shadow chills when she did it, nice ones though. He closed his eyes feeling relaxed and calmed, and he smiled.

"I missed you so much…" he said, and a calm and quiet voice, "And I'm so glad to have you back. I will not let you get taken away from me Maria… I promise you'll be loved and protected, forever." he said, and they pulled apart.

"I know." she beamed. "Because you'll watch over me… just like a shadow…" she breathed.

Shadow then buried his face in her chest and cried, he cried heavily and Maria comforted him, it seemed she would have to look out for Shadow too.

**Wow, that made me cry a little bit there, at the end. It was so sweet. :3**

**Lucy Labrador **


	6. Chapter 6

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 6: Strange Behaviour**

**Thanks for the reviews everyone. **

The two of them spent time with each other for a long time on the ARK until it started to become impossible for them. "Shadow… we can't eat this food for much longer… it's really stale." Maria complained, as she had trouble chewing the bread she had.

"Oh no… we can't go down there." Shadow said. "You have no idea how cruel the world below is Maria." he started to look worried. "I told you about it." he said, as if his word was final, he bit into his bread hard, it made a cracking sound.

"Right!" Maria said, getting up off her seat. "Shadow, stop this. We must go down to Mobius, otherwise the food will make us ill, and we'll run out soon anyway. We have to go down, please." she begged.

"But… it was fine…" Shadow lied, putting his hand to his cheek, he had hurt his tooth on the old hard bread. He sighed in defeat. "Fine." he said, feeling very irritated, she had won. "We can go down to Mobius." He got up too.

"Thank you Shadow. I can meet your friends now. I've been wanting to do this ever since I was a little girl, I finally get to go down to the planet below." she cheered and latched into Shadow, giving him a tight hug. "THANK YOU!" she squealed.

Shadow smiled, he had made Maria happy. She suddenly stopped and pulled away from Shadow, her eyes widening. She put her hands to her mouth and ran to the toilet. Shadow watched, feeling guilty, 'Oh no… by making her eat that food, I've made her ill.' he thought.

A while later, Maria came back looking a little unwell. "Maria! What's wrong?" Shadow asked urgently, becoming very worried.

"I just… had to be sick all of a sudden. I feel fine now though." she said, She noticed Shadow still wasn't okay about it. "Don't worry Shadow. I'll be okay." she said and hugged him. "Now let's go, maybe some fresh Mobius air will do me some good." she beamed, so Shadow did as she asked.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" he yelled, and they were engulfed in a bright flash of chaos energy.

They then found themselves in the city, Station Square. Surrounded by people and Mobians, who were all busy with every day life. Shadow took Maria's hand and led her through the crowds, they were going to find Sonic and the others. Maria was speechless, she didn't know what to say about all this. It was very different to what she had imagined. "This place is so lively…" she said, smiling. Shadow smiled back to her while pulling her along through the crowds.

They found Shadow's old apartment. "There it is." Shadow said, from a distance, looking at it. He didn't move any closer though.

"Well let's go." Maria chirped, she noticed that Shadow wasn't budging. "Shadow?" she looked at him, he was taking a step away from the door, "Shadow, what's wrong?"

"You… don't understand… me and Rouge… well… she never knew I was going to leave… I uh…" Shadow said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You just left!" Maria yelled, sounding surprised and angry. "That poor woman and all of your friends are probably worried sick about you! And you've been up on that ARK for a few weeks!" she said angrily. "You go and apologise to her… and show her that you're okay!" Maria started to pull Shadow towards the door.

"No… please Maria, you… can't do this to me… they'll never forgive me… it's best to leave it alone!" Shadow whispered while he was slowly pushed towards the door. He was there, right by the door, he folded his arms, standing on the spot, refusing to knock.

"Knock on that door right now and tell Rouge you're okay." she told him, sternly, it was like she as his mother all of a sudden. Shadow tried to step back, this made Maria become impatient. Knowing that once Shadow had said something he would always keep his word, and would never give up, she knew that he would not knock on the door, no matter how much she told him to. She sighed and knocked on he door herself.

Shadow's eyes widened, he started to look nervous, and looked for an escape route, "Oh no you don't Shadow." Maria said, holding him in place. "I always taught you not to knock and run." she smiled.

"But… _I _didn't knock, you did-" the door opened. Shadow tensed up, Rouge was right there and she looked completely shocked to see Shadow. For a moment no one did anything, then he was pulled inside and nearly squeezed to death as Rouge hugged him.

"Where did you go all of this time! I was so worried about you!" she cried out as she hugged him tightly, "I missed you so much-" she said, bit stopped as she noticed Maria outside. "Oh… hello." she said in a confused voice, she let go of Shadow and went to the door. "Do you want something-"

"She's with me Rouge." Shadow explained, tidying his fur up. Rouge smiled, and gave Shadow a curious look. Shadow backed away from her a little.

"Who is she?" she asked.

"I'm Maria." she introduced herself to Rouge. "Maria Robotnik… you may have heard of me… from… Shadow…" she stopped talking as she noticed Rouge's wide eyed expression. "Is something wrong?"

"How is this possible?" Rouge asked Shadow, "Is she really _your _Maria?" she said, looking unconvinced. Shadow nodded. Rouge then ran up to Maria and shook hands with her. "I'm so glad to meet you… I never thought this could ever happen. Come in!" she said. Maria came inside and walked towards Shadow, standing close to him. "Is this why you disappeared?" Rouge asked.

"No… but if I didn't disappear, I wouldn't have found her." Shadow said. "I went to the ARK…" Shadow began to tell the story of bringing back Maria, and what they had been up to since, they all sat down to do so.

"So you two are… together?" Rouge asked. They nodded, Maria nodded enthusiastically, Shadow nodded nervously, his cheeks turning red. "Wow… two are so good for each other… I'm so glad for you. This has worked out so well… since… I'm with Knuckles now."

"What!" Shadow exclaimed, he then looked to the floor nervously.

"Yes… I know, that's what everyone else said when we told them." Rouge said feeling annoyed. "So… shall we go and tell the other's about you two?" she asked. Shadow nodded, Maria frowned.

"What's wrong Maria?" Shadow asked curiously. "You really wanted to meet everyone a few minutes ago."

"I… don't want to any more." she said shyly. "I don't feel like it." she said in a sulky voice.

"Maria… I've never seen you act like this before… what's going on? Is something the matter?" he asked. She didn't answer. Shadow looked up to Rouge, who also had no clue. "Maria… I'm getting worried now… you're never this upset… why so upset all of a sudden?" Shadow said urgently.

Maria still didn't say anything, just looked away from Shadow and sighed. Then, all of a sudden her eyes widened, and she got up. "Maria! What's-"

"Where's the bathroom!" She cried out. Shadow let her down the hall to the bathroom. She went inside and Shadow could here her being sick inside. He cringed as he listened to it. After a while she came out looking upset.

"Maria… what's going on with you? You're sick… I gotta take you to the doctors." Shadow said to her.

"It's probably just a normal stomach bug… I'm okay. I'm not sick like I use to be in my human form Shadow." she said, as they came back to the living room. "I'm fine. Now lets go and meet your friends!" she smiled and skipped to the door.

Shadow and Rouge looked at her with a puzzled expression on their faces. But they tried to ignore it and they left the apartment to go and see the others.

First they arrived on the floating island to se Knuckles, Rouge was eager to tell him that they had another couple to do things with.

Then, they went to Tail's workshop to see Sonic and Tails. They were both especially surprised, knowing how much Shadow missed Maria. He had finally gotten him back.

Then they went to tell Amy and Cream, Amy was very glad to meet Maria, after how she had spoken to Shadow about her on the ARK as it was falling to earth.

Ah yes… those bad things Shadow had done. Shadow was very worried about Maria finding out about all of those things. He was hoping that she would never find out at all.

After all of this, the three of them went back to the apartment to rest for a while. "So, how was that for you Maria?" Shadow asked.

"It was okay… but… I'm starving now." Maria said, not seeming that bothered again. Shadow sighed, she was acting strange again. "What do you want to eat?" he asked. Maria began to think, then she knew what she wanted.

A little while later, Maria was at the kitchen table eating a big bowl of ice cream. "Are you sure you don't want a warm meal?" Shadow asked her. She shook her head and carried on eating the ice cream eagerly. "Want anything on that? We have sprinkles-"

"Got any chicken?" she asked. Shadow widened his eyes.

"Wha…."

"I just… really wanna try it… please Shadow… I'm really craving it right now-" she stopped in her tracks. "Craving…"

"Throwing up…" Shadow added.

"Mood swings…" Maria breathed. Rouge stood silently at the door of the room, she broke the award silence.

"Okay… I think I'll give you two some a night to yourselves, I'll stay with Knuckles tonight." she said quickly and left. The two of them heard the front door to the apartment go. But none of them took their eyes off each other.

They stood looking at each other for what felt like and eternity, in silence. Until Shadow managed to talk, he nervously spoke up. "Maria… are you… pregnant?"

**Ooohh! I wonder if they're right looks like you'll have to find out in the next chapter.**

**Lucy Labrador **


	7. Chapter 7

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 7: Young Love**

**I am loving this story :D**

The silence continued, the two of them didn't know what to say. They just stared at each other in fear, dreading the worse. Shadow felt like his soul had left his body, he wasn't ready to be a father. He had the body of a fifteen year old and Maria did too.

After the eternity of mind numbing silence, Shadow spoke up. "Maria… do you think you're pregnant?" he asked her again. She nodded her head slightly. "How did this happen!" he cried out, grabbing his quills and pulling on them with frustration.

"Isn't it pretty obvious how this happened Shadow?" Maria said looking annoyed.

"But I… thought that… since we were both… ya know… experiments… we'd be infertile." Shadow said quietly, blushing.

"I don't even know why we're surprised… you know… after that 'incident' the other night." she huffed and looked at the table feeling ashamed. "How could I let this happen?"

"L-lets… think about this… positively." Shadow said in a shaky voice, he cleared of his throat trying to think of something… "Well… uh… at least you don't have the body of a 12 year old any more, right?" he laughed nervously.

"Shadow… you're not making this any better." Maria said with her arms folded. "We have to get to a doctor." she said.

"Oh no… look Maria… we'll look really bad… were 15 for chaos' sake!" Shadow yelled out. "And no one really likes me that much. I'm frowned upon by the humans." he said in a sulky voice. Maria sighed, and went to sit on the sofa. "Maria?" Shadow walked over to her.

She now had her face buried in her hands. Was she crying? Shadow went to sit down by her. "Please Maria… we will get through this all right… nothing bad will happen to you." he said.

"To… me… does that mean you will be-" she started to say, Shadow looked away sadly. "Oh no Shadow… are you going to get into trouble for this!" Maria said in a afraid voice. "Please Shadow… are you going to be okay?"

"I… don't know… I really don't know what they'll say. All I know is… now that I'm back… the commander will be keeping a close eye on me… probably through Rouge." he said sadly.

"Well… let's get our own apartment… or if Rouge moves in with Knuckles… we can have this one…" Maria said optimistically.

"What if our baby s hunted… because it came from me?" Shadow said worriedly. "The humans are after me for my power… what if they'll be after the baby's power?"

"They won't…" Maria said. "They've done this in the past… but it doesn't mean they'll do it again. If they do, we can always go to the ARK." Maria said. "But I'm worried about the pregnancy and labour!" she cried out. "Why do you boys get it so easy?"

"Me, get it easy? Did you forget what I just told you?" Shadow said, folding his arms and sulking. But then the sulk turned into a smirk. "We're gonna get through this… and as I've said before, I will protect you… and now I have a baby to protect too." he grinned.

He sat down by her and felt her tummy. Maria looked at him like he was stupid. "Shadow… you're not going to feel a difference yet… it's probably the size of a couple of cells by now… it was only conceived a few days ago." she said and hugged him. "But now I know that you care… I love you Shadow… and I'm glad to be having this baby with you."

"Yes Maria.. Me too." he said. "It seems my life isn't so bad all of the time then." Shadow smiled. "Now… do you wanna do a pregnancy test just in case… I'll go out and buy some." he said, grabbing his cloak from the coat hanger.

"Shadow… what is that?" Maria asked. Shadow put it on, it was a cloak that reached to his feet and covered his whole body, it also had a large hood on it to hide his head. It made him look a little bit like the grip reaper. It was a dark grey colour.

"I use it to hide… I get a lot less attention then… if they see me buying a pregnancy test… suspicions will rise, and then there will be trouble." Shadow said gloomily. "You know what I just told you… so you have to understand this." he said and left with his money.

Maria was now all alone in this apartment at night. It was quite creepy as she didn't even know her way around the place fully. It was all silent, and the silence sent chills down her spine. She hear voices out in the corridor, she tensed up but they passed.

She went over to the kitchen table which was further away from the front door then the sofa was. The living room and the kitchen were as one whole room. She hoped Shadow would be back soon. "Oh please Shadow-" she ended up putting her hand to her mouth and ran to the toilet again, she hoped this morning sickness would pass soon. If it was morning sickness.

Suddenly, the door swung open, she screamed out until she noticed it was only Shadow. "Maria… why did you scream?" Shadow said, coming over, taking off his cloak and throwing it to the side of the room. "Was it the cloak?" Shadow asked.

Maria shook her head. "I was really scared… being all alone…" she said in a shaky voice.

"Well… I'm here now… it was pretty easy to get it." Shadow said, giving her the pregnancy test.

She nervously took it and went to the bathroom to take it. Shadow waited anxiously for Maria to come back with the results. After about ten minutes Maria came back in looking disappointed. Shadow looked at her worriedly. "Oh no… what's wrong?"

"It's negative…" She said. Shadow's eyes widened, his mouth dropped open. She came over and hugged him looking upset.

"But… I has to be wrong… we were so ready…" he said sounding hurt. "I can't believe it…" Maria leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Only joking… you're going to be a great father." she whispered. Shadow immediately kissed her. He was so happy it was only a joke, and that he would be a father in nearly nine months time.

The two of them decided, to make it official that they were together and always would be, they would get married. It would make it easier for the child too. Maria had gone to the hospital for a few check ups and everything was okay. She got Rouge to go with her as a friend instead of Shadow, in case suspicions were raised and Shadow was captured.

The marriage was just a small one, in mystic ruins. Maria's maids of honour were Rouge and Amy. Shadow's best men were Sonic and Knuckles. They had both deciding that since it was the most traditional of marriages, then why only chose one. So, or course it was only small. They invited, Tails, Cream, Vanilla and the chaotic team to watch the ceremony. Besides, they needed a few more people to be able to party with.

They had a nice white cake, made by the girls and the decorations set up by the boys. It was all planned and set up very quickly, with what they already had. Shadow and Maria didn't have the money anyway.

After this, Shadow and Maria got the apartment, while Rouge gladly moved in with Knuckles. "I shall be visiting regularly." was her last words as the left the apartment.

It was now a while into the pregnancy. "I wanna start getting baby things now!" Maria said eagerly. "Please."

"Maria… we have to pay for the rent for a start… I need a job." Shadow said. "But it needs to be something that isn't such a high profile, again I don't want to raise alarm in GUN." Shadow said, he kissed her on the cheek and left to find the job.

Shadow came back a few hours later. He had been successful. Maria was glad of this, "What is it?" Maria asked eagerly. Shadow blushed.

"I don't want to tell." he said, turning away from her. She walked up to him and looked at him with pleading eyes. Shadow cleared his throat, then took a deep breath. "I'm… a pizza delivery boy." he said. Maria couldn't help but giggle. "It's all I could get… I was lucky enough to even get the job."

"It's okay Shadow… at least you got something… we'll have some money soon." she smiled. "Now you work hard… we need this money."

"I will… Maria… because I love you and the baby and I hope for the both of you to have a wonderful life with me… this is the start of a new life." he said, a huge smile on his face. "I'm so glad we're gonna be a real family soon. Damn it, why do we have to wait so long?"

Maria giggled. "I've never seen you this exited before. It's not like Mr Grumpy to be like this." she teased, and tickled his chest fur. This made Shadow purr a little, he wasn't the one to laugh, he wasn't ticklish, he just really like it when someone tickled his chest fur.

"Oh Maria… you know exactly how to make me love you even more… I'm sure it won't hurt the baby if we… have another round in the bedroom." he said and let her to the bedroom. Maria was obliged to follow, giggling as she did so and closing the door behind her as she joined Shadow on the bed.

The next morning, they both woke up with a smile on their faces. Maria cuddled up to Shadow. He looked at the time on his bedside clock. "One more cuddle before we get up?" Maria asked.

"I'm sorry Maria… I have to get ready for work." Shadow groaned. "Tonight, okay?" he got up, walked to her side of the bed kissed her on forehead and went to the bathroom to get washed and dressed. Maria sighed, she would now be lonely all day, she never realised that it this would happen.

Twenty minutes later Shadow came back into the bedroom with his uniform, it was now official, he was a pizza delivery boy. "Tsk… this is something more suited for Silver or something." Shadow huffed. "At least I'm getting some money." he said, sighing. He then noticed the disappointed look on Maria's face.

"Shadow… am I going to be lonely every day now?" Maria asked, looking straight down.

"Oh… well… there are a few things to do in this apartment… and, you're always welcome at the other's houses, as long as they're not busy of course." Shadow said. "I'm sorry Maria… but this is the only way." he kissed her again, this time on the lips. "I love you so much, and I shall be thinking of you all day long." he said in a lustful voice and left.

**The two of them are doing really well together, I love it X3**

**Lucy Labrador **


	8. Chapter 8

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 8: Not The Night He Expected**

Shadow got home late that night, he felt so tired. Delivering pizzas was more tiring than he thought. And he didn't get to eat any of them either, so that was torture for him, he loved pizza. He looked around the living room and kitchen, Maria was no where to be seen. "She must be waiting for me in the bedroom." Shadow smiled and walked to the bedroom. "Oh… Maria?" Shadow said seductively and went into the room.

What he saw took the breath out of him and made him turn pale. "MARIA!" he cried out, she was covered in scratches, he wounds dripping with blood. She was breathing slowly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Shadow ran towards her, but was hit back by some unknown force.

"Shadow!" Maria rasped, trying to get off the bed, she couldn't move, she was too weak and in too much pain. Shadow looked to the being that had hit him.

His blood started to boil, he bared his fangs and said it's name in hatred. "Mephiles." Shadow hissed. "You just couldn't leave me alone could you? You malicious bastard." Shadow snarled in fury, tightening his fists. "Why did you do that to her!" Shadow said in a roaring voice, like he had been taken over by some beast. "This time I'm going to kill you! Once and for all!"

"But… I have something to show you something from the future again hedgehog." Mephiles. "And I'm sure you shall like it." he taunted. He gave Shadow his chaos emerald and Shadow looked into it, still keeping an eye on poor Maria.

Looking into it, he started to see the vision. There was a hedgehog who looked a lot like him only different. This hedgehog floated instead of stood, as it had very small feet compared to Shadow. It had sharp teeth and a sharply pointed nose. He had no chest fur, on his chest was the Black Arms insignia. His hands had a resemblance to Black Doom's. Two fingers and a thumb on each one, and big claws. It seemed to have hardly any weight either as it's ribs and some other bones could be seen clearly through the skin.

Shadow looked horrified. "What… is it?" he said, looking at Mephiles. "Do I meet this thing in the future?" he asked, his eyes wide with fear.

"Oh no… you don't meet it… exactly." Mephiles sneered, grinning maliciously. Shadow looked at him worriedly. "You become it!" he announced. Shadow jumped back in horror, hitting his back against the wall, he slid down the floor shaking in fear, breathing heavily and shakily.

"But… no… this can't be… no…." he said, a lump forming in his throat. "How… really… how!" he said, tears forming in his eyes.

"That will be for you to find out…" Mephiles taunted. Shadow growled at him, looking at him desperately. "You want to know… don't you?"

Shadow snarled at him, getting up. "I want you to get out!" Mephiles stayed put, not letting him get to Maria, who was falling unconscious. Shadow charged at him, trying to throw him out of the way. "You bastard! She could be dying, let me past!" he grabbed Mephiles' arms and threw him out of the window.

The frantic hedgehog then ran to Maria and checked her pulse. Her heart was still beating and she was still conscious. Grimacing in pain. "Maria… I'm gonna take you to the hospital." he tried to pick her up but something dark hit his face.

He plummeted down onto the floor, grabbing his face. Mephiles then landed in from the window. "Why are you doing this?" Shadow said, running in front of Maria to protect her.

"Well… it's going to be a while until you get captured and put into a cryogenic sleep. I just thought I'd do something to pass the time." Mephiles smirked, looking proud.

"Pass the time!" Shadow was almost screaming, looking frustrated. "You're a time traveller… you could go there now! You can go back in time to watch the last time you tormented me! Just leave us alone!" he said, baring his teeth.

Through his rage, anger and determination. He conjured up all the power he could and sent a huge chaos spear through Mephiles' chest. Mephiles cried out in pain and melted into his purple mist. "I shall return hedgehog!" he said in a voice of vengeance, Mephiles retreated through the window.

Shadow and Maria were left in silence, he tired again to pick Maria up and bring her to the hospital. But he suddenly felt something wrap around him and squeeze him. He dropped Maria back down onto the bed as all he could see was a world of purple.

He tried to cry out, but it was impossible as he was being engulfed in Mephiles' liquid form. Shadow knew what he had to do, and it was the only way. Maria was becoming aware of what was going on and he didn't want her to see it.

He slowly struggled backwards, leaning back against the window and deliberately falling out, landing on the ground hard, from the third floor, but his landing was cushioned by Mephiles. In this back alley, where no one could see him he let out a huge cry of power as he prepared himself for his attack. "Chaos… BLAST!" he cried out, and it completely disintegrated Mephiles' form.

Feeling weak, he climbed back up to the bedroom window and crawled over to Maria. There was only one more thing to do. He put his hands onto Maria's bleeding and exhausted body, and transferred the last burst of energy he had, his rings flying off. He hadn't tried this for a long time, and hoped it would work despite his lack of practice. "Chaos heal!" he said with determination, and Maria's body began to glow, all her cuts disappeared and her energy returned.

Maria noticed Shadow's amazing effort, and pulled him in for a thank you kiss. Shadow kissed her back, but collapsed while doing so, onto the floor and falling into unconsciousness. He hoped Maria would remember that his inhibitor rings were the key to his revival.

**AMAZING! Well, it was the most exiting chapter for a while at least. Haha… my Authors note sounds like a review. Well I have reviewed my own story before… ^_^ It was my first story when I wasn't getting any. :D So, review or I'll have to do it myself. ;( **

**Lucy Labrador **


	9. Chapter 9

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 9: An Unexpected Delivery**

**Thanks for the reviews, Hande, Swift, Omega and Mikela, Fire Shell and Cora Roz. **

Shadow awoke, his eyes opening slowly and painfully, to see Sonic in his face. Shadow gave a little jump, but then calmed down. "Huh! Where's Maria? Is she okay?" Shadow yelled out, getting up and pushing Sonic away.

"Yes… Maria's fine." Sonic said, pointing to her. Shadow sighed, got up and limped over to her, he gave her a long and desperate hug.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked, feeling worried for his wife and un born child. "I'm so sorry… I failed to protect you… I have no right to be called the ultimate life form." Shadow said in shame, turning away from her.

"Shadow… don't say that… how can you possibly protect me if you're at work, gaining money to make my life better… you were away for a good reason, and I can't blame you for it. You risked your life to heal me… so you did a great job in the end." she said enthusiastically.

Shadow groaned, putting his hands to his head. He then saw the inhibitor rings on his wrists. He was glad that they had been returned to his body, and wondered who had got the idea. "Why is Sonic here?" Shadow asked groggily, like he had woken up with a hangover.

"I needed help… I didn't know what to do… I'm sorry Shadow, I couldn't do it alone. I could have gotten Rouge but when I called them, they were out. But Sonic and Amy were in-"

Sonic's eyes widened as Shadow turned to him in shock. "You and… Amy?" Shadow teased. Sonic gulped. "Are you two together?"

Sonic looked to the floor, his cheeks turning red. "Well we uh… put aside our differences and decided to finally give it a try." Sonic said in a nervous voice, losing it near the end.

"You mean, you agreed with her for once, after all these years?" Shadow teased, gaining back his strength and confidence. Sonic laughed nervously and turned away. "Finally!" Shadow said. "Now she won't annoy us with her lies about going out with you and stuff… it'll all actually be true."

"Isn't this nice… we have another couple to spend time with." Maria said softly and happily. "Now the only people who are single are Tails and Cream."

"Yeah, maybe when they're a little bit older. For now, they're both just friends." Sonic said. "I mean, they're not even ten-"

"Wait… I didn't mean I was expecting the two of them to hook up… but now that you say it, they do go good together, the both of them." Maria smiled. Sonic smirked arrogantly, obviously no longer embarrassed about everything.

Now that both Shadow and Maria were well again, they invited for Sonic to stay for a while for a drink, before they went to bed. "So… are you and Amy together for good, is she living with you?" Shadow asked.

"Shadow." Sonic sighed. "It's been a week… we got together last week… after your wedding… I guess seeing how close you two are together made me realise why Amy has wanted this for so long."

"Wow… so why was she over your house… and why isn't she here with you right now?" Shadow asked him.

"She went home… she would have been leaving soon anyway… she offered to come with me but, I told her to go home and I'd do it myself. Ya know… to be polite and all… so she was only visiting for a while."

"That's nice." Maria said, finishing off her warm tea. Sonic finished his too.

"Well, I'd better be going… I think I'll check on Amy… see if she took me sending her home in the right way." he said nervously. "I was in a hurry and I may have said it in a way that looked nasty or something." he said in a worried voice. "So, I'd better get going!" he said and hurried out of the door.

"So… you and the baby are completely okay?" Shadow said as they slowly walked back into the bedroom. Maria nodded.

"Yep, I feel better than ever… thanks to your amazing powers." She smiled and sighed happily. "Shadow… do you think the baby will have powers like you?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

"Well… it depends exactly what it inherits from me… you know all about that… it's probably a 50/50 chance. I might be wrong though." Shadow said, they got into bed, now feeling snug. "Ahh…" Shadow sighed, feeling relaxed. "Can we just go straight to sleep Maria? I'm exhausted…" he said, his eyes closing already.

"I'm not surprised Shadow… I'm tired too." Maria yawned and rolled over, falling asleep, Shadow soon did she same, cuddling up to his much loved wife.

The next morning, it was the same deal. Too late to spend time with each other and Shadow rushing to get to work on time. He couldn't wait for the weekend. He made his way to work and he had already gotten a delivery to do. He sighed and got on with it, he had a feeling that today would be a hard day.

Later that day, at about six o'clock at night, he was still doing deliveries. He regret working for a popular pizza place with loads of customers. He wondered if he was getting paid per delivery or not.

So, he went to his next delivery. It was quite large house in the suburbs. It had a large garden and nice car. Shadow felt a bit jealous, whoever lived in that area, had a pretty good job and brought home a lot of money. He knocked on the door, getting the pizza ready for giving it over. He knocked on the door and waited for it to open.

The man he saw at the door nearly gave him a heart attack. Shadow's eyes widened and his eyes slowly bent back against the top of his head. It was- "C-c-comander?" Shadow cried out in fear.

"Shadow!" the commander said in surprise. Shadow's heart started to beat faster, he feared that The Commander would come after him soon. "I bet you regret quitting now hedgehog…" he smirked, giving him the money. "I'm glad that you have a crappy job like that… serves you right hedgehog." he said.

Shadow growled. "It's better than working for you!" he said, passing him the pizza.

"Now get out of here, you pathetic rodent!" The Commander said, Shadow didn't leave, looking at him, waiting for something else. "I gave you the money, now get out of here!"

"Where the hell's my tip?" Shadow asked, looking annoyed.

"What?"

"Tip's not included in the bill." he grumbled.

"I'm not giving you a tip, now get out of here!" the commander said and slammed the door in his face.

Shadow snarled, walking back up the drive way to get away from the house. Then a sinister smile emerged on his face. He made sure the commander was no longer looking, waiting a while for him to think Shadow was gone for good. Then, hiding in the hedge, he chaos speared the tires of the Commander's car. Silently, splitting them and releasing all of the air.

No one had noticed. And with a smile on his face, he left to carry on with his long list of deliveries.

**Short chapter there, but it needed to get uploaded soon. :D**

**Lucy Labrador **


	10. Chapter 10

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 10: Getting Close**

**If some of the chapters seem a bit short, it means it didn't have enough time to make them longer, I like to upload at least one a day. **

Fast-forward to eight months later, meaning Maria's baby would be there soon. In a few weeks. So her tummy was huge and she was starting to struggle. Shadow was still working very hard and they had nearly all of the baby things ready.

Shadow hadn't heard anything from the commander since that little prank of his, so the commander obviously hadn't guessed it was Shadow. Shadow smiled every time he thought of that moment, and the look on the commander's face when he came outside to his car and saw all of the tires were flat.

So, Maria wasn't really in the condition to do many things herself. Instead she would have one of their friends help her. It really depended on who was available. Maria promised to give this all back, by helping the others when they were in need. They were all a group of best friends.

Shadow was annoyed to see that one of his deliveries that day was one he had done before, and that he would not be getting a tip from the man. "Damn it." he said to himself, and nervously walked down that same drive way again. He knocked on the door, looking nervous.

The door opened, this time it was a woman, who looked as if she was in her sixties, possibly fifties. Shadow sighed and gave her the pizza. This time he got a tip. Shadow began peering around her body curiously into the house. Noticing this, she cleared her throat audibly. Shadow stopped peeking immediately. "You'd better get out of here before my husband notices you." she said, becoming concerned. Shadow smiled and turned around to leave.

The door was closed behind him and he began walking up the drive way, then he heard a gun shot. The top of the short hedge in front of him was cut off by a flying bullet. Shadow turned around with wide eyes to see the commander in the window, pointing a gun at him, the warning shot. Shadow leaped out of the way as he shot again and made a ran for it. He couldn't fight back now, he'd lose his job. Maybe another time.

Shadow got home to see that Amy was with Maria today, helping her with a few things. "Good day at work today Shadow?" Maria asked him. Shadow shut the door behind him feeling irritated.

"Good day? Good day? I got shot at!" Shadow yelled. Maria gasped.

"WHY!" she screamed.

"I had to make a delivery to the commander again. I thought I was lucky since his wife opened the door… but as I left, he shot at me through the window!" Shadow said angrily. "I would have fought back but… I was in uniform.. It would have been traced back to the company and I would have been fired."

"So you did the right thing to walk away Shadow… well done…" Maria said, getting up to hug him. With her huge stomach, she was unable to reach him, so she just kissed him on the cheek. "I know how hard it is for you to walk away from something like that." she smiled.

Shadow sat down, taking Maria with him, and he sighed deeply. "I bet he ordered that pizza on purpose. And he'd better not order another… if he does… I'd better not be chosen to deliver it!" Shadow said angrily. He tired to calm himself down. "So… how was your day?" he asked Maria.

"Just the usual lazy day." she heaved a sigh. "This is so boring."

"I know Maria… how about I take you out this weekend." Shadow said. "If you're able to walk that is…"

"I can walk…" she smiled. "But not for long… so you better not plan a hike or something." she joked. Amy walked up to them.

"I'd better get going… Sonic is waiting for me." she said, she grabbed her coat and bag. "It's a shame I'm only 13... Poor Sonic is gonna have to wait a long time before me and him go as for as you two." she sighed. "And he's hating it…" she giggled. "Bye." she chirped and left.

"I hope Amy doesn't rush into things with Sonic… I mean… we're only 15... But were technically not… we've both been living… or existing for over 50 years." Maria explained. "But no one but our friends will believe us… everyone looks at me and frowns… that's why I hardly leave the house."

"Do you wanna stay in this weekend then?" Shadow asked. Maria nodded ."Okay… I'll just have to think of something special to do, in the apartment." he looked at the clock. "Wow, I got home pretty early today… is there anything you need me to do?"

"Hmm… actually… I heard there's a sale over in the shop that sells baby stuff… down the road… I need you to go and get the things that you can… that are on this list." she smiled, and handed him the list of things they hadn't got for the baby yet. "I'm sure it wont take long… since you're the ultimate life form…" she said, quite seductively. Shadow smiled, and went to get it.

There was quite a lot of things to get, he looked at all of the sizes of baby grows. New born and up for humans… then there was new born and up for Mobians. As Mobians were a lot smaller than humans. It was like this in all of the clothes shops an stores that sold clothes, all over Mobius. Of course they knew no different so it wasn't strange to them.

The ultimate life form came out of the shop with bags and boxes full of baby things. And he had to carry them all up the street, and up the stairs. He needed help, or he'd drop it all. He decided the best thing to do would be to do chaos control, it would take up a lot of energy, but so would carrying the stuff. He put it all down on the floor by him and got out his chaos emerald.

A large shadow then loomed over him, he looked up and nearly fainted once he saw who it was. "Commander…" Shadow choked.

"A lot of… baby things… isn't it Shadow?" he said curiously and slightly angrily. "Any particular reason?"

"Just uh… running some errands for a couple of friends of mine…" Shadow lied nervously.

"Are you sure you haven't gotten anyone pregnant, rodent?" he said, reaching into his pocket for his gun. "Because, I don't want to see your filthy genes getting passed onto any child… okay?" he said threateningly.

"What has it got to do with you?" Shadow asked, "If I wasn't a baby, then I can have one…"

"So, you are expecting…" he growled. "That's it-" he clicked his gun.

"ADOPTING!" Shadow yelled out, cowardly.

"You'd better be right hedgehog…" he said and left. Shadow wiped his face of all of the sweat he had just released from that awfully terrifying moment. He then did chaos control to get him and all of his new stuff to his apartment.

He was now inside the apartment. He seemed to lost all strength in his legs, and collapsed against the wall feeling drained. "Shadow… what's going on?"

"He's on to me Maria… the commander's on to me… he was out and he saw me with all of this stuff." he said, Maria started to look afraid. "I told him I was adopting but… I don't think he believed me…"

"Well… don't worry about it for now… it's stressing you up… just put al of that stuff in the baby's room and we'll go to bed. Maria went to the bedroom while Shadow moved all of the stuff.

Shadow didn't sleep well that night since he was worried sick about the safety of his wife and unborn child. He could see it, he imagined it in his head. His family captured and hated, because they had his genes. His new son or daughter, experimented on, because they had his genes. His child hating him for it, when they grow up and realise, wanting him out of their life for what he did to them. His kid would suffer, and it would be all his fault.

Maria noticed that Shadow looked worried and upset, when she woke up at about two o'clock in the morning. Shadow was wide awake, sat up straight, and in his thoughts. Maria shook him to bring him back to reality. Shadow then sent frantic, explaining his day dream to her, to which she listened. But all of the way, she was in disbelief because- "It won't happen… and if it does, they won't hate you… I'll make sure they don't hate you… you're going to protect us, like you do to me now… and it'll all be okay…" she assured him. "Now go to sleep… you have work in the morning… and I have some important relaxing to do…" she sighed.

"The baby will be out soon… and then we can all go out as a family." Shadow said, and kissed her on the lips, passionately. "I promise." he said and they both went quiet, dropping back into their pillows and falling asleep.

**Lucy Labrador **


	11. Chapter 11

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 11: Bigger Family**

**Thanks for the reviews everyone, there was a lot for the last chapter! **

The time had come, the two of them were alone in bed when the labour pains started and Maria's water broke. After a short panic, Shadow was able to call Rouge, and all of the others while Maria was taken to hospital. The struggle had only just started, and she had a long battle ahead of her.

Shadow stayed with her in the delivery room, feeling worried about what people would say. The other's would come in from the waiting room every now and then to check on how she was doing. After an hour or so of pain, Shadow demanded that she was given pain relief.

With the pain finally soothed, Maria could relax a little, as she would probably not be fully ready to push the baby out, for several hours. Shadow got a funny look from the nurses and doctors around. "Maria… why are they looking at me like that? Is it because I didn't come to the scans?" Shadow whispered to Maria.

"Probably yes…" she whispered back nervously. "I'm sorry Shadow…"

Shadow looked at them all boldly. "It's not my fault I couldn't come with her at all… do you have any idea who I am?" Shadow said. "If I show up too much, everyone will know…"

"We know about your celebrity status… still no reason to bail all of the time." one of them said in an annoyed voice.

"You Don't understand… this is none of your business…" Shadow snarled. Maria tried to stop him from being aggressive. Shadow didn't like the fact that they were all humans, some of them in white coats. It brought back awful memories of experimentation, and it reminded him of the day dream he had about the pain him and his family could go through. "Maria… I gotta go out for a second…" Shadow said, running out of the door with his hands on his head.

"He's not coming back." one of the nurses said, sounding as if she knew everything. Maria frowned at her.

"Didn't you listen to what he said? Stay out of our business, he cares too much for me and the baby, which is why he stays away sometimes… it's for our own good." Maria said, getting tears in her eyes. Why did it have to be like this?

Shadow had gone outside to calm down and wait for the horrible images and thoughts out of his head. He couldn't stand it, even thinking that his family could be in danger. When he thought he was well enough, he came back inside to see Maria. As he walked in, Maria gave a smug look to the doctor that had said he would not be coming back.

"Any progress?" Shadow asked. The doctors nodded.

"She's nearly there.. The baby should be out within the hour." they said and left for a while. Shadow and Maria hugged each other tightly.

"One more hour… and the baby will be out." Maria said excitedly. "I'm so happy… and it doesn't even hurt that much." she smiled. Morning was coming around, it was 4am and their friends in the waiting room were looking extremely tired, but not as tired as Maria.

"Just one more hour Maria…. You only have to stay awake for one more hour." Shadow assured her. She was struggling to stay awake, especially between contractions.

Then it came, she felt the baby coming through a little, the doctors were called in again, and she was told to push. "Oh no…" she said in an exhausted voice. Then she started to push, with all of her might. Shadow watched in horror as there was blood and goo and yucky stuff coming out of the hole, as well as the baby's head. One last hard push and it was done.

The baby was born. The cord was cut and it was wrapped up in a sterile towel. The doctors passed the baby to Maria, Shadow was stood right by her side. They looked closely at their baby. It had crystal blue eyes like Maria, blonde hair like Maria, peachy skin like Maria too. Thought it's main layer of fur was black like Shadow's though… and it was a boy.

From this, Shadow had a feeling it would be a lot like Maria, he wouldn't have powers like him, he would be a normal hedgehog, with no special powers. Not very exiting but, at least there was less chance of GUN going after him.

After a check up and a day, they were able to take the baby home. They had decided to call him, Shade Doom. Shade was like Shadow, and to take Maria's name, Robotnik, would be unspeakable.

**(You're probably wondering why the name is 'Shade' when there is already a character called that. Well, I designed this character way before Sonic Chronicles, and this was years ago, so it would feel awkward to change it now. In short, my Shade came first :D)**

The two of them were so happy to be able to bring their new son home, they put him in the spare room which they had taken ages to get ready for him. It used to be Rouge's room before she moved out, so that's why it was spare. This was only a two bedroom apartment.

The two of them raised Shade as well as they could with a mixture of love and firmness, as everyone would want to. As Shade got a little older, he was a rebellious little toddler. Always making a mess with his toys and throwing food, but it was all harmless fun. No one got hurt or upset, Shade just wanted to have fun.

Shadow carried on working through those years, and managed to get a better job. He now worked in store that sold high value things, he was a security guard. He loved it when people tried to steal something, then he'd get some action, and he had then down in a second. He got quite a lot for that.

This enabled them to move into a small house, instead of having the small apartment. This was a bungalow with three bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. It had a front and back garden too. Ideal for a one child family, there was a spare room, for visitors and guests.

Over these two years, a lot had happened between the others. Rouge and Knuckles had gotten married, as expected. Sonic and Amy were planning on getting married, in the future. Tails and Cream were still too young, but had some interest in each other.

Rouge was now 19, Knuckles was 18, Sonic was 17, Amy was 15, Tails was 10 and Cream was 8. Shadow had stayed as a teenager, no surprise. But Maria had gotten older. She now had the body of an 18 year old. This settled it, Maria was in no way immortal, she was just like the rest of them, and would grow old.

Soon enough, Rouge was pregnant and Maria was there for her as Rouge was there for Maria, so were the others. Rouge had twins, they were hybrids. Half bat, half echidna, one boy and one girl. The boy was name Russet and the girl was named Rose. The boy had red fur like Knuckles' and the girl had white fur like Rouge's.

Shortly after this, when Shade was 3 they were all sitting at home, spending time as a family. The day was going very well, too well in fact. Nothing to ruin it, Shade was actually behaving, as they watched films on the TV while cuddling up on the sofa. It was all too quiet. It was as if Shadow could sense that something bad was coming to neutralise all of the goodness.

Time passed with nothing bad happening but the feeling got stronger and stronger until it came. There was a flash and it appeared, _he _appeared. Shadow's heart nearly stopped, he was back. "No… it can't be…" Shadow said, losing his voice, looking up at the awful site.

Shade gave out a scream, and cuddled into Maria in fear. Shadow swerved I front of the two of them to protect them. It was time to take his promise to protect them into action. "Black Doom… I thought you were dead!"

"Do you not understand the meaning of 'immortal!' You cannot kill me!" Black Doom bellowed. "Now, it's time for revenge."

"Damn it! Shut up about your revenge, it isn't going to happen. I'll kill you again, even if I have to do it in front of my son!" Shadow shouted angrily.

"Language." he heard Maria whisper from behind him. Shadow gave a little growl,

"And I the best part is… I'm not just going to hurt you… I am going to hurt your family too." Black Doom said smugly. Shadow's eyes widened. "You, your pregnant wife and your child… better yet I should just kill then in front of y-"

"W-w-w-w-w-wait… _pregnant_ wife!" Shadow said in disbelief. "What makes you think that." he said in a shaky voice.

"The fact that she is… would make me think that." Black Doom sneered. "I am never wrong!" Shadow gulped and turned around to Maria, who looked shy and guilty.

"No… way…." Shadow said breathlessly.

"I… didn't want you to find out this way Shadow… I'm… so sorry." she said, getting tears in her eyes. Shadow spread his arms out to hug Maria, but froze in pain instead.

He slowly began to choke and fell backwards onto the floor. He twitched in pain on the floor, getting tears of pain in his eyes, he noticed then, Black Doom had his hand held out. He was being controlled by him.

Shadow felt his heart stop as he noticed Shade and the Pregnant Maria, were now vulnerable and there was nothing he could do about it.

**Wow! Getting late, so I had to finish it there for today. O.o**

**Lucy Labrador **


	12. Chapter 12

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 12: **_**Happy**_** Families?**

**Thanks for the reviews in the last chapter, Hande and Mikela. Swift didn't get there quick enough this time. :/ XD**

Shadow looked at Maria helplessly, he couldn't do anything, he couldn't protect them, only watch in agony as Black Doom hurt them. Shadow had to do something before Black Doom attacked them. He tried his only option. "R-Run…" he choked out to them, after that he felt his voice seize up. He looked into the eyes of his son, he was terrified. There was a big alien monster right there in front of him, and his dad was acting in a way he had never seen before.

"Daddy…" he sobbed, big wet eyes looking down on Shadow while his dad was in the firm grip of Maria. She got him out of the living room and nearly got to the front door but Black Doom acted on this, and blocked the door way with many things, coat hangers and the small table. That was blocked off, so they couldn't escape through there.

They ran down the hall to Shadow and Maria's bedroom, to see if they could climb out of the window, but Black Doom melted the lock with a chaos spear, it was impossible to get through. Black Doom was now very close it was getting tense. He did the same to the other doors too, each door they ran towards was now out of bounds. The two of them shook with fear. Cowering into the back corner of the little hallway.

Black Doom got closer and closer to them, Maria let out a loud scream as he held out his hand, creating a large chaos spear. "Daddy!" Shade cried out before Maria pushed his face into her torso, to hide the horror from him.

Shadow listened to all of this in agony. Agony from the pain Black Doom had given him and agony as his family were going to suffer a horrible fate. "Black Doom, please!" Shadow cried out. "I'll do anything!"

Black Doom stopped, and went back for Shadow. Since Shadow was helpless and unable to move, he picked Shadow up and carried him out into the hallway by the scruff of his neck. Shadow could now see the terrified look on their faces, and they could see the terrified look on his. Shadow began to struggle in his grip, "Please Black Doom, you can't do this… please…" Shadow choked, getting tears in his eyes. "You can't kill them… especially since she's pregnant… you'll be killing three people… not two… you're a bastard! I can't believe you would do this!"

"She is pregnant indeed… any idea how far along she is?" Black Doom said. Shadow started to growl, he felt this was a very inappropriate time to start up a conversation. But Shadow did want to know. Shadow shook his head, he didn't know.

"4 months…" Maria said. Shadow gasped, she was nearly half way through. "I only knew a week ago though… it seems the symptoms this time weren't as bad as it was when I was pregnant with Shade…"

"You Can't do this… she's already half way there…" Shadow said, getting tears in his eyes.

"And, I think I know why I could tell she was pregnant, even though it wasn't showing." Black Doom said, now Shadow was interested. "I could sense the life form growing inside of her…" Shadow gasped, he knew what was coming now. "But I only sense, life forms with my own blood…"

"It's going to be more like me… than it is Maria…" Shadow breathed.

"It's going to have your blood, which is my blood." Black Doom said, "It all makes sense now… I cannot kill her… as it would be killing one of my own." Black Doom said. Shadow sighed with relief. "But I can kill the child… he is a disgrace, how can he be yours, he is nothing like you!"

Shade screamed in dread, he didn't want to die. "NO!" Shadow yelled out in anger. "I don't care if he isn't that much like me! He is still mine!" Shadow growled, and broke free from Black Doom, looking at him furiously. "I HATE it when people say that!" he said, his eyes turning red. It was happening, he was going to let out a chaos blast.

This would get rid of Black Doom, but his family also. So, he did chaos control, taking him and Black Doom outside to the large back garden, where only grass would be damaged, before his anger reached his peak and he would be out of control.

From inside the house, they heard Shadow scream out at Black Doom in anger, and there was a huge bang. An explosion. Then silence. They had heard nothing from Shadow after that. Maria immediately ran to the phone that she wasn't able to reach before as Black Doom was in the way, and called Sonic and the others. She needed them desperately, she made that known.

So, within ten minutes, she had Sonic and the other's knocking the door down, making the object fly out of place. The ones Black Doom had put there. Maria explained to them shakily what Shadow had done and they ran to the back garden, out of the front door and down the path that went around the house to that back. There was no back door.

Shadow was laying in the middle of a huge circle of scorched grass, unconscious. Knuckles and Rouge found his inhibitor rings that had scattered across the garden and put them on him, since they were so good at finding things. Shadow soon started to wake up.

First came the dizzy, unaware phase, then reality dawned on him. He remembered what had happened, and hated every second of it. He then hugged Maria and Shade tightly. "You're okay…" he said, getting tears in his eyes. Black Doom was gone for now, he judged that it would take about 4 years for Black Doom to return, as that was how long it had been since the last time.

It took a few weeks to get everything in the house fixed. Though, they did it themselves, with the help from their friends, Rouge, Sonic and the others. Now that the house looked like nothing had happened, Shadow, Maria and Shade didn't feel the same way at all.

They were scarred, it was implanted in their memories and it would stay there forever. It would be Shade's forth birthday in a couple of months and Shadow hoped that he would get over it at least a little bit by then.

Shadow was constantly wondering how this baby would turn out, he was happy that this one would be a lot like him. This way, him and Maria were even. He wondered if it would be a girl, that would be ideal. One boy and one girl, and they would be very careful after that.

By the time Maria announced to everyone that she was pregnant, it was obvious that Amy was too. She was too embarrassed to admit that they hadn't been patient and waited. She was nearly pregnant nine months pregnant, and had done a good job at hiding things.

They had their child, it was a boy, and they decided to call it Rush. It looked so much like Sonic, only the blue on him was a little bit brighter than Sonic's. **(Like Classic's :D) **The eyes were green like Sonic's, though Amy's eye were green too, so it was like the both of them. It had quills like Sonic too, and the bare tummy and arms like Sonic, it looked just like him, only the fur was a little brighter.

After that, it was Maria's turn to give birth again. The birth went pretty much the same as before, but this time she was more prepared and knew what to expect. Plus, there was a much shorter wait from the finding out, to the birth. The guest room became the new baby's room.

This baby was a girl. Shadow and Maria were glad of this. It looked so much like Shadow. She had red and black fur, all black with red on her arms and legs and it looked like there was going to be some red on her emerging hair too. She had round sweet eyes like Maria, but the irises were red. A bit of the edges around the eye were turning red. She looked like a female version of Shadow.

It made Shadow go all warm inside, her nose was small and cute, like Maria's, she would definitely be pretty like her. They called her Bless, she would be Bless Doom.

A couple of years later, Amy got pregnant again, it was a girl too. She had pink fur, green eyes and quills similar to Sonic's. **(Think classic Amy.) **They called her Swift, and looked a lot like Amy, as Rush liked like Sonic.

When Bless was nearly 4, it happened again. The four of them were met by the awful alien again. Black Doom appeared in front of them, Bless was terrified, Shade stood up feeling afraid, but knew what to expect. Black Doom saw it, he saw her. He looked down to Bless, who was whimpering and crying in fear, keeping a tight hold of Maria for protection. "Ah… there she is…" Black Doom said proudly. "The perfect offspring." Shadow let out an audible growl and put his body in front of the three of them as a shield. He wasn't going to let them get hurt. And if Black Doom did use the mind control, it was only a matter of time, and they would be okay.

Maria pulled Shade close to her, in fear that he would try and be brave like his dad and walk out to Black Doom. She kept a tight hold of both of her children. "You know what will happen Black Doom… do you really want to go through with this again?" Shadow sneered. "Because this is getting very repetitive."

"Oh no… now that the child is out of your useless wife, I can kill both her and the male child… you and the female child can come with me, and together you two shall reproduce a super army!" Black Doom announced his plans to them. Shadow looked at him in silence and disgust.

A while passed before Shadow could speak his opinion. "You sick bastard… she is my daughter… I thought even _you _had boundaries Black Doom… you deserve to be blown to pieces twice over this time." he said through his teeth furiously. His eyes glowing red,

"If I were you, I wouldn't do that hedgehog." Black Doom said confidently and held his hand out. Shadow braced himself for the pain, but it never came. He was confused, was Black Doom having trouble with the mind control. This made Shadow smile sinisterly, his eyes then widened when he heard whimpering from behind him.

He turned around to see Bless shaking madly, crying her eyes out. Shadow's heart felt as it had been torn in two. Was he doing this to Bless? "Yes… she is in pain…" Black Doom answered the unsaid question. "And I am causing it… so… will you two join me?"

Shadow fell to his knees, he had failed his family. But, just a few more minutes. They couldn't be late, please. Shadow shut his eyes tight in hope. Then, the door bell went. Shadow's face lit up, "It's open!" Shadow yelled.

Sonic and the others, Amy, Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, Cream, they all came into the living room with their children, where they were. They all had a wide expression on their faces. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails looked at each other, they looked at Black Doom in hatred. They all grouped together, the three of them and started to attack Black Doom. Sonic used his homing attack, Knuckles used his fists and Tails used his flying attacks.

Bless was no longer in pain since Black Doom couldn't use his mind control when he was under attack. This was Shadow's chance to strike. He did chaos control to teleport him and Black Doom outside and- "CHAOS BLAST!"

They all ran outside to see Shadow passing out, Black Doom was gone and there was a big circle of scorched grass in the garden again. "Here we go again…" Sonic sighed as they went to help him.

**YES! Just over 2000 words. I reached my target for this one! Sorry if it seemed a bit quick as it rushed through the births and things. **

**Lucy Labrador **


	13. Chapter 13

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 13: Flames**

**Notice the number 13.… (: Hehehe… Omega, I think your question in the review will be answered. **

Life now, was just going as normal. Everyone was older and life was running smoothly. Like they weren't even heroes, just normal Mobians getting on with their lives. As always, Shadow was still young and strong as a teenager, while everyone was growing up, well, already grown up. Maria was now 30, Shade was 14, Bless was 10. Sonic was also 30, Amy was 27, Rush was 11, Swift was 8. Rouge was 32, Knuckles was 31, Russet and Rose were both 13. Tails was 23 and Cream was 21, meaning they too were adults and together, no sign of children yet though.

They were all adults with healthy growing children. Shade was a very well behaved teenager, like Maria. He didn't get into tantrums and declared he hated his parents. In fact, he was very quiet. Bless however, was a bad behaved child. She liked to pick on Shade, and pick on Shadow, but her and Maria seemed to get on. Shadow wondered why Bless acted as if she hated him. Maybe she had something against men.

One time, when Bless was being told to do something. "Bless, come inside now! It's dark! You know it's dangerous when it's dark!" Shadow called out to her, seeing her near the garden of the house, playing with the rowdy Neighbourhood children. She didn't budge, just carried on talking to them. And she wasn't saying good bye either. "BLESS!" he called again, getting quite angry. She stuck her middle finger up at him. For a ten year old, she acted very much like a teenager, a bit old for a her age. "I know it's dark Bless, but I saw that!" Shadow growled aloud.

"I KNOW!" Bless said in an irritating voice. "You were meant to!"

"Bless! You know this is only for your safety! It's nearly 11 at night for chaos' sake!" Shadow said, becoming stressed. "Get in!" He then saw her walking away from the garden with the children, and those children looked a lot like teenagers to him. "Oh no…" he ran after her, and grabbed her by the waist, picking her up. She screamed bloody murder as he did so. "Bless, it's only me!" Shadow said, "You're coming home!" he said, carrying her along while she kicked and screamed.

"You're uncool man!" One of the teenagers said as he carried her away. Shadow ignored it and took her inside where it was warm and safe.

Shadow locked the front door so she couldn't get out, "Bless… how could you do this to-"

There was a loud boom outside, Shadow ran to the window, he could see flames in the distance, reaching them quickly, like a tidal wave. Shadow's heart nearly stopped, was this it? The flames of disaster. The flames reached the village, and then the house. The house was engulfed. by flames, Shadow knew there was only one place they should go. Some where with water. The smoke was starting to fill their lungs and the heat making them feel dizzy. Maria and Shade were in bed. "Bless, stay there, I'm going to get Shade and your mother!" he said, and rushed to get them, they had already woken up, but they were half asleep. Shadow dragged them to where Bless was and did chaos control to the beach. There was damp sand there and the ocean. "You three stay here… I think I should help get people out of the burning buildings."

"What's going on dad!" Shade said. Shadow looked at the three of them with sad eyes, none of them had any idea about this. Not even Maria.

"I'm sorry…" he said, taking one last look at them, for it really could have been his last before GUN captured him. Shadow ran out into the city and places where people way have needed help. As he did so he heard screaming, and crying, screams of terror and pain filled his ears. Then, Mephiles' voice.

"So, the time has come… what are you going to do? Help the humans that will turn against you… or run… run now while you can." he heard Mephiles say in his head.

"No.. I'm going to help them until I can't any more." Shadow said with determination. "This is it…" he said, he heard a gunshot and he felt something pierce the back of his torso, then the front. He gasped in pain and clutched his chest, he saw blood seeping through his chest. He turned around in pain to see the Commander looking smug, Omega was behind him, his eyes red with evil, he was being controlled by them. Shadow turned pale. This was it.

Shadow fell to his knees in agony, before he was picked up by the commander and taken to the GUN vehicle. "Why…" Shadow rasped.

"You know why hedgehog… you did this… and there's no way of proving that you didn't." The commander said, putting him in cuffs. Shadow gasped out in pain from his wound. "I know hedgehog… it hurts. I want you to suffer just like you made the world suffer." her sneered.

"I didn't…" Shadow said, hissing in pain. He was shot again, this time in the stomach. "AHH!" he cried out, getting Blood on the seat. "Please… don't do this…"

The Commander looked at him in disgust. "Green blood… the only things I know that have green blood are the Black Arms-" he stopped. "No… you're one of them…" he said, realising. Shadow's eyes widened, he had found out. "Yet another reason to lock you up!"

Shadow stayed silent, he didn't want to get shot again. This hurt enough already. It was so painful, he just wanted this to end. They got to GUN HQ, and they brought him deep inside the base, where the flames could not reach, way underground.

"No one will find you here… so don't hope for any rescue missions." The Commander sneered. He took Shadow to the small room, that had a small status pod in. "And guess where you're going?"

"To the bathroom I hope." he groaned. The Commander gave him a confused look, but then shook it off.

"Well, at least it adds to your discomfort." he said sinisterly. Shadow gave a worried look, with pleading eyes. "Nope, you're not going…" he teased. Shadow's ears drooped to the side of his head.

"Damn it…" Shadow groaned, squirming a little.

"Should have paid attention to the need before you got here, shouldn't you?" The Commander said, pushing him towards the machine. "Now you're about to enter an eternity of pain, no one will ever find you here, and you will stay here… I knew you were bad, hedgehog…"

"But… what about my family?" Shadow said. "They need me… I promised them I would protect them." he said desperately. The Commander picked him up by the scruff of the neck and put him into the machine, strapping his wrists in, then his legs. His arms were spread out to his sides and his legs down straight. "You can't do this to them!"

"You, are the one who condemned them, by causing this destruction, this is your own fault." he said and shut the pod. Shadow began to struggle, he then stopped as he saw something on the other side of the room. "Thanks for telling me about your family hedgehog… they're next." he said, pressing a button on the controls, a gas was filling the pod. Shadow managed to see vaguely what this creature on the other side of the room looked like. It looked like him, only different, more evil, changed. It was the creature Mephiles had shown him. He realised this, and then passed out.

He felt numb, and all he could hear was silence. He could see nothing, hear nothing and feel nothing. Then he heard his own thought. "What is this?" he heard his own voice echo. Maybe he was inside his mind, or consciousness.

He then heard Mephiles' sinister laugh. Mephiles had won, he was right and Shadow had been foolish to not join him for revenge. At least then he would have deserved this awful fate. "_You regret your decision_…"

Shadow refused to answer him, he tried to keep a blank mind, so Mephiles couldn't do anything to him, and this is what he would have to do until he found his way out of this hell.

**Sorry about that guys, normally I would upload one a day, but I didn't get to upload it yesterday since I was very busy… at a sleepover. :D**

**Lucy Labrador **


	14. Chapter 14

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 14: The Release **

**This is where the story takes a big change. **

Shadow had lost track of time in his deep sleep, it didn't feel like any time had passed at all, but at the same time it felt as if an eternity had passed, it was very confusing. Suddenly, he felt something. He felt his senses return, was he being freed? Had the commander got second thoughts? The pod he was in opened, he was able to breathe and feel alive again.

He soon saw the light and came back to his senses fully. His body felt stiff, he was still clipped into the pod, unable to move. He was glad his legs were tightly stuck together, as he felt the need to go to the toilet return, his eyes widened and he frantically looked for the person who had opened the pod so they could get him out.

He looked downwards and saw a hedgehog, it was a white hedgehog with large bangs on the front of his head and long spikes on the back of his head, "Silver!" Shadow exclaimed. He started to struggle about in his restraints.

Wondering what the hurry was all about, Silver got him out of the restraints, and caught Shadow as he fell out of the upright pod. He was now free from his so called eternal prison. Shadow took some time to catch his breath and calm down, he was then able to speak to Silver. "Thank you so much… for freeing me… what year is it?" Shadow asked.

"The year 3435." Silver said. Shadow had feared it would be way into the future, the fact that it was Silver made it very obvious. Shadow was silent for a moment, then it hit him harder than anything, everyone was gone, his family was gone, and he was all alone. No more Maria, no more children. He fell to his knees, trying his hardest not to cry but the tears escaped after a large struggle. It had been nearly 200 years since he'd last seen his children. "I'm sorry Shadow…" Silver said in a comforting voice.

"It's not your fault." Shadow said emotionlessly, and sat against the wall, sulking. He got up to leave, not saying anything to Silver.

"Wait, don't you wanna hear about how I freed you!" Silver asked eagerly, hoping taking Shadow's mind off of his losses would cheer him up.

"Whatever…" he grumbled. Silver got read to tell the story.

"Well, this world used to be a ruined world… and just lately, me and my friend Blaze defeated Iblis for good and now the world is saved. Sadly, Blaze had to go to another dimension…" Silver sighed sadly.

"Yep… destroying the flames that I released according to that bastard of a commander." Shadow growled. Silver cleared his throat nervously, Shadow was hard to cheer up.

"Anyway… I knew something about your imprisonment, and I just had to help… I couldn't get it off my mind. So, I looked into it. I found out it was in the GUN base. After looking at the machine you were in, I worked out how to open it, it's basically indestructible, no one can break in or out, unless, you enter the password."

Silver noticed that Shadow was half listening and half fidgeting while they stood on the spot. "Umm… Shadow…" Silver started to say, afraid of how Shadow may react to what he was about to say. "Do you have to go to the bathroom?"

Shadow stood still for a second, a look of slight embarrassment on his face. "Kind of…" he said. "I mean… two hundred years is a long wait…"

"Not really… your body's functions were frozen, wouldn't have made a difference." Silver said. Shadow gave him an annoyed look. "Let's find you a bathroom… I'll tell you the rest on the way out of this place." Silver said and they started walking, Shadow trying to hide his desperate look.

Silver continued his story. "So… I needed to find out the password… and the only person to know the pass word, would have been the Commander himself. But he was long gone, and hadn't written it down anywhere. So… I knew there was one last resort. To go back in time and see the password as he typed it in."

"Wait! So you went back in time to see the pass word." Silver nodded. "Silver… while you were there, couldn't you have actually stopped him from doing that to me altogether!" Shadow growled angrily.

"No… I've tried it before, and I know now the solution is to solve it in your own time line, not go back in time to stop things. Anyway, I used the chaos emeralds to go to the time of the sealing. And from around the corner, watched him type the password. I knew the password. So, you got sealed and-" Silver started to look nervous. "Something really bad happened to the commander…"

Shadow's face finally lit up. "Really?" Shadow smiled, now enjoying the story. Silver explained.

"I watched as this thing from outside the room leapt at him, and starting mauling him to death with it's claws. It had this… creepy voice too… I think it was something to do with the Black Arms… it looked like it." Silver shivered. Shadow smiled even more, he knew what it was.

"So, he never got a chance to go after my family." Shadow said hopefully.

"Nope… not for a while… but GUN found out about your family after a few years."

"Why? How! What happened!" Shadow said frantically.

"I don't know anything…." Silver said. They now left the building to be met with a bright blue sky, shining over a city in repairs. "But I might know someone who will." Silver smiled. "Let's go and find them." he said and ran off, Shadow followed.

Silver took Shadow to a certain area of the city, where there were many people making homes and areas to live. There were many people there, among them, a girl who looked about 15 years of age. Shadow recognised her straight away, she had red and black fur, red eyes… it was Bless. Shadow ran up to her eagerly, so she was immortal and ageless just like him. "Bless." Shadow smiled and got to her.

Bless gave him a hard look, straight in the eyes, then slapped him in the face, her knee impacted his groin and she ran off. Shadow fell to the floor in agony, she knew how to fight. "Wh… why did she… do that…" Shadow hissed in pain. Silver started to look worried.

"Well… I've been speaking to her, and she kind of hates you." Silver said nervously.

"Couldn't you have warned me!" Shadow said, trying to get up, but he couldn't take his hands off the area she had kicked. "Silver… where's the nearest bathroom… I gotta go now!" he said urgently holding himself tightly.

"Hmm, I'm not sure…" he began to think. "Let's look for one." Shadow managed to get up and walk through the pain and desperation, he couldn't possibly feel any worse.

"Why does she hate me?" Shadow said while they walked.

"Well, I think it's because you left her… I don't know, it's just a guess." Silver said.

"But that wasn't my fault… well… she's seemed to hate me aver since she was about eight. It's like she realised something about me… maybe it's because she inherited the Black Arms DNA from me… did GUN hurt her because of it?"

"You could be right… you know better, she is your daughter." Silver said.

"Let's go and find her. And hopefully there will be bathroom on the way." he cringed, squeezing his legs together. They ran in the direction Bless had gone.

They found her sat alone, crying her eyes out. Shadow quietly walked up behind her, he still hadn't got his relief, but there were more important things to do now. "Bless… I'm sorry… please… explain to me exactly what I've done wrong… and I'll make it up to you." he said in a calm voice, while behind her. He sat down beside her, hoping she wouldn't hurt him.

"It's all your fault…" she said, turning her face away from him. "All your fault that I suffered so much… it's been a long two hundred years…"

"How did it make you suffer… is it because I wasn't there to protect you?" Shadow asked.

"No… mum did a pretty good job at doing that… she brought us up well… Shade got a wife, and I got bullies…" she said sadly. "All because I'm different… because I look like you…"

"So… why were you nasty to me and Shade when you were young?"

"You, because you've given me these awful traits… I inherited hardly anything from mum… only the shape of her eyes, the rest of me… I'm you… and I'm hated…."

"And… why Shade?"

"He didn't inherit anything from you… he's nothing like you, so he was free, not picked at all, and had a normal life… well, until his wife got pregnant… and had non-uplets." she shivered. Shadow's eyes widened.

"NINE!" Shadow exclaimed. Bless nodded.

"They all looked like you… as I do… and it didn't go un noticed." She sighed. "GUN got suspicious, and they found us. We went on the run, we were being chased because of who we were…"

"That… was very unfortunate…" Shadow said. "Nine…" he breathed. "Damn…. Will I ever get to meet them?"

"Maybe we'll come across them… but most of them moved away… only one of them stayed… he was named after you. Because he looks like you the most… exactly like you in fact… he was pretty strong too."

Shadow smiled proudly. "I wouldn't be do proud if I were you… you caused mass suffering. Because we're related to you… we suffer… we're prosecuted for who we are… sent to these… concentration camps… and most of us wouldn't even hurt a fly."

"No… I didn't cause this! You can't blame me! It's GUN! If it wasn't for them and their safety precautions! We're not dangerous damn it!"

"Why did you leave? You just looked at us… and ran off… you're so selfish!" She screamed.

"WOAH! I didn't do that… I brought you to safety, and ran to save other people… I was captured while I ran off… and put into a stasis pod." Shadow sighed. "And Silver's only just freed me…" he said, he started to sweat a little, one leg crossed over the other tightly. "Are GUN still after you?"

"Kind of… but I'm safe here… no one's going to tell." she said.

"What happened to Maria?" Shadow asked. Bless stiffened up. Seeing this, Shadow became worried. Something bad had happened, he knew it.

"She… died… protecting us…" she said and got up, she didn't want to face Shadow's reaction.

"How…"

"GUN… shot her… the soldiers could have gotten me and Shade…" she started to cry again, until she felt Shadow's arms embrace her from behind.

"I'm so sorry…" he said. "I'll make this all up to you… and I'll protect you…" he said, then he felt her heel impact his groin, hard. He fell back, holding himself in pain.

"In case you haven't guessed, I've learned to look after myself." she said and walked off, Shadow got up and trailed behind holding himself in pain. At least he'd found his daughter.

They walked for a while, "So… where do you live?" he asked, trying to start up a conversation, he hoped they could go to her home so he could use the toilet.

"Don't have one." she said. "I just travel, sleep outside, you know…"

"Yep… I know… I've done it before… I'd rather do odd jobs if I'm desperate for money, than to have a job and a house." he said. "A life like that isn't for me." Shadow said, feeling the need increase, he tired to hide his discomfort.

"Dad…" Bless said. "Do you need the toilet?" Shadow's face went completely red, for his daughter to ask him that, wasn't very dignifying.

"Kind of." Shadow said, struggling to say so through this embarrassment. "Do you know where the nearest bathroom is?" he asked urgently. A mischievous smirk appeared on Bless' mouth.

"I do… but… I'm not telling." she teased.

"Why?" Shadow said, his eyes widening. "Please… this is urgent." he held himself between the legs, now that she knew anyway, he could show it. She shook her head. "I'll find it myself then." he said with determination.

"That would mean leaving my side… and you want to 'protect me'…" she mimicked his words. "So you can't leave my side." she said smartly. Shadow was dying inside, but had to go along with it.

"Fine…" he sighed in defeat, trying to forget the whole deal, this need would have to wait for another time. They walked on, they would now travel together for a while.

**Oh dear. Poor Shadow!**

**Lucy Labrador **


	15. Chapter 15

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 15: Kane**

**Thanks for the reviews. Nearing fifty. **

Bless was waiting impatiently outside a block of toilets, while Shadow was inside it. After a few minutes, he came out looked relived. "Don't you need to go?" he asked her once he was out.

"I'm not a child, I don't need telling, I'm fine." She said and they carried on walking. There was an awkward silence between them, none of them said anything. Inside his mind Shadow was frantically trying to think of something to say to start up a conversation.

"So… ever thought of having any children of your own?" Shadow asked casually. Bless gave him another angry look. "Take that as a no then."

"What about you? Tell me more about you?" Bless said and a cheeky voice.

"What is there to tell?" Shadow said. "I did nothing between our last encounter." Shadow said to Bless.

"What? So… after you left us, you appeared in the prison… and appeared by me again just now?" She said sarcastically.

"So… you wanna here a detailed story of what happened between now and our last encounter?" Shadow asked. Bless nodded. "Fine." he said, and he told her about the little adventure he had from the moment he left her, to the moment he found her again.

"Were you really that worried about us… or were you just exaggerating." she said. Shadow sighed, it took a lot to please her, but he didn't blame her, it sounded as if she's been through a lot. He could see it in her eyes, the innocence had been drained just like his had been.

They entered another awkward moment of silence. "So… have you ever been in one of those concentration camp?" he asked.

"Yes… and I hope you go to one too one day, Then you'll see what it's like and you'll know how much I've suffered." she sneered.

"I understand… and I've been to prison before… I've been captured by GUN before… captured by a GUN commander who hated me… hated me more than everything in the world. I'm so glad he's dead. Looks like we have mutual feelings about GUN…"

"Every one of your decedents hates GUN." she said. "That's like saying… we both breathe so we're the same."

"We'll defeat them one day." Shadow said. "Shame I didn't get the chance to kill the commander myself-" he stopped as he realised. Apparently, he would become that creature. If Mephiles was right of course.

They continued the stroll through the city then suddenly, Shadow felt something impact his neck, it was sharp and went through the skin. He started to feel faint, and fell to the floor, so did Bless. "Wha…" Shadow managed to say before he passed out.

When he woke up, it took him a while to see clearly, everything was fuzzy, and all of the noises he was hearing were muffled. It soon got clearer and clearer. He scanned his surroundings, he knew he was in a cell. It was small and empty apart from the person he was in with. "Bless… are you alright." he asked. She was sat in the corner of the cell against the wall. She looked quite uncomfortable and had her legs crossed. This made Shadow smile cockily. "I bet you wish you'd listened to me now…" he teased.

"Shut up… it wouldn't have made a difference. We've been here for two days… call yourself the ultimate life form? You sleep too much to be the ultimate life form." he scowled.

"Hey… that's not fair… I couldn't help it and I wasn't sleeping, I was passed out!" he said angrily. He got up and walked to the bars. "Who ever you are, show yourself! And let us out of here!" he shouted. No one came. "Have you seen who captured us? Do you think this is GUN?"

"No way… this isn't GUN… this is something else." she said, also getting up. Shadow shouted out again, this time someone came.

He was wearing a white lab coat and was tall and thin with short black hair and blue eyes. Though, he reminded Shadow of someone. Who? "Who are you?" Shadow asked, keeping his guard up.

"I am Kane Robotnik." he said proudly. Shadow's eyes widened.

"That's mums last name." Bless said in shock.

"Why do you want us?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, I'm going to use you two to make the new ultimate life form." he declared. Bless gave Shadow another look of hatred.

"And this is why I hate you… I'm always associated with you! Why can't every one just leave me alone!" she screamed.

"Because… your DNA is needed for this experiment." Kane said, "Now keep quiet." he said harshly. "You two aren't going anywhere until I'm done!"

"Not… even to the toilet?" Bless asked nervously.

"Not even to there." this made Bless groan. "I might need a urine sample later though." he said and walked of back to what they guessed was his lab.

"Dad… you have to think of something." Bless said desperately. "I can't wait any longer." Shadow sighed, feeling useless.

"Just… try to relax… you're making it worse than it should be." Shadow said, "And I'll try and reason with him." he called out to him again.

"What is it now!" Kane said.

"You gotta let my daughter use the bathroom… it's an emergency." Shadow pleaded.

"I told you… no." he said and turned to leave.

"Please." Bless cried out, "You boys don't understand." she said, looking sorry for herself.

"Oh… umm… okay then…. I'll bring you." Kane said and brought her out of the cell.

Shadow watched in amazement, what had she done to persuade him? Soon she came back looking relived and happy. Kane left to do some more of his work. "Bless…. How…" Shadow started to say.

"Lets just say when I acted all sad like that and saying boys don't understand… it made him believe that it was my-"

"Oh… right cleaver… I wish I could use a trick like that… now we have to think of a way out of here, before he takes our DNA." Shadow said. He examined the strength of the bars, the floor he looked for any gaps. Nothing, the cell was solid, nothing could get in or out. "And he's taken my chaos emerald."

"Maybe… when we've waited and appropriate amount of time… I ask to go again, and I'll knock him out while I do so-"

"You will do no such thing." they heard a voice say, Kane was coming back to the cell. "That's it, there will be no more toilet brakes for you." he sneered. "I can't trust you."

"I-I said Maybe…" she stuttered. He took out a huge needle and the both of them went pale.

"Now… it's time to take some blood samples." he said evilly, holding the needle up.

"Couldn't you have done this while we were asleep?" Shadow growled.

"I could have… but there's no fun in that, is there?" he said sinisterly. "So, who's first?" Shadow stepped up. "Good, now hold out your arm…" he said, and Shadow put his arm through the bars so Kane could reach it. "Very good…" he purred, and stabbed the needle into his arm where the veins were most available. Shadow hissed in pain as Kane hadn't been so gentle. "There…" he said, putting a label saying 'Shadow' on the tube he had just filled and put it in his pocket. "Now you… girl…" he sneered.

Bless gulped and came forward. "Give me your arm…" he ordered. Instead of putting her arm through, she put her leg through and kicked him between the legs, and punched him in the stomach with the arm she did put through afterwards. He stumbled back in pain. Bless stood in the cell watching him as he was cringing in pain on the floor. He soon got up and said it again. "Give me your arm." this time there were signs of pain in his voice.

Bless didn't budge, so he put his hand into the cell and gabbed her wrist, pulling her arm out of the cell, bringing her body to be pressed tightly against it. She struggled as he mercilessly pulled on her arm and stabbed it with the needle. She yelped out in pain. Once he had gotten her blood, he swiftly pulled on her arm again and again, banging her against the bars.

She screamed out in pain. Shadow couldn't bare to watch. "Stop it!" he yelled, he didn't so he acted on it. "Chaos spear!" he yelled and a chaos spear hit the arms Kane was using to pull on Bless. He let go of her, holding his hand in pain while Bless went flying back, Shadow ran and caught her/

Her body was lifeless, and the side of her that had been facing the bars, was bruised. "Bless… are you okay?" Shadow said urgently, fearing she had been seriously hurt.

"Dad…" she rasped through the pain.

"It's okay… he's gone now…" Shadow said as Kane fled back to his lab with the blood. "You're gonna be okay…" he said and thought of something. "I'm gonna use something to heal you… but it might make me really weak… so don't be surprised if you find me passed out, okay?"

"Okay…" he said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Shadow put his hands out over her.

"Chaos Heal!" he announced boldly and Bless was engulfed in a bright blue light, her wounds were gone and Shadow collapsed. He tried his best to stay awake but couldn't possibly do so, without his chaos emeralds, he had lost all of his energy. Now Shadow's body was the lifeless one, and Bless was back to where she was before, sat alone in the cell with her unconscious father beside her.

**OUCH! **

**Lucy Labrador **


	16. Chapter 16

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 16: An Addition To The Family**

**Thanks for the reviews. **

Shadow was woken up as something made his breathing constricted, it woke him up with the shock of it, as something was crushing his throat. He opened his eyes frantically to see red eyes, eyes just like his. "Damn it, why did you have to wake up. Now I have to fight you!" the voice came from it, I sounded just like Shadows.

Shadow managed to break from this hedgehog so he could breathe and see who it was. It looked just like Shadow except the quills were ragged thin, long and all pointed downwards. "Who are you!" Shadow asked urgently.

"I have no name… yet…" he said.

"He is my creation." came Kane's voice from outside the cell. "He was created from your and Bless' DNA." he explained. "If he can defeat you… he is the new ultimate life form… if he cannot I kill _him_ off. So he's quite desperate to defeat you."

"He won't stand a chance against us." Shadow said, he turned to Bless and gasped. She had been knocked out and there was a bit of blood coming out of her head where she had obviously been hit. Shadow ran over to her to see if she was alright. "Bless!" he said, shaking her. She didn't wake up.

He got hold of the top half of her body and sat her against the wall. While he did so he felt something impact his back, it hurt and he was nearly thrown onto Bless but he managed to stay standing.

He turned around and realised, he had been chaos speared in the back. "You're a dirty fighter!" Shadow said furiously. He sent a chaos spear at the experiment but it sent one back at him, a bigger one, which countered it so the energy of his own and the experiments hit him in the stomach.

Shadow yelped out in pain, clutching his stomach. That was a sensitive place to hit. Shadow couldn't send huge chaos attacks since he didn't have a chaos emerald. However, the experiment had been given the chaos emerald that Kane took off Shadow so he was free to use more energy.

Shadow was breathing heavily, trying to recover from the blow. He decided to use his speed, Shadow had skating shoes and the experiment had nothing. Thinking about this while using his speed to dodge the attacks, he realised. The experiment was naked, meaning it had no inhibitor rings. So if it was that much like Shadow, it would run out of energy soon.

So, he kept going and going but it had no signs of slowing down or getting tired. "Don't bother Shadow! He won't run out of energy. That's where he's an improvement from you." Kane said.

Shadow stopped and clenched his fists in frustration, baring his teeth at the experiment. He tried to hit it physically, with a normal kick or punch. He charged at him, but was rapidly grabbed by him as soon as he got close. The hedgehog held Shadow up high by the throat. Shadow struggled and chocked in pain, but it was no use as he was not letting go.

This went on for a few minutes until Shadow became weak, then he hung limp in it's grip. "Go ahead… kill me…" he rasped. "But… make sure Bless gets out alive… that's my only request…" his eyes were closing slowly.

The experiment threw Shadow against the wall and ran up to him, aiming a chaos spear at his chest. Shadow braced himself for the end, Maybe Mephiles was wrong, maybe it was this creature that would become that thing he had been shown.

As Shadow looked up all he could see was the sinister expression on the experiment's face as he had the chaos spear ready. He then had a pained expression on his face, she chaos spear fizzled out and he fell to he knees clutching his groin.

Behind him was Bless and she looked very annoyed, "You leave my dad alone you freak." she hissed and helped Shadow up.

As she brought him away from the whimpering experiment, Shadow caught his breath back. Bless gave Shadow a chaos emerald. "I took it from him." Bless said, pointing at the experiment. Shadow gave Kane a enraged look.

"YOU!" be roared and charged at him. He impaled him with a huge chaos spear. Kane chocked in pain and fell to the floor. Shadow watched as he continued to spasm in pain and eventually became still. "That takes care of him." Shadow said and turned to the experiment who was now sobbing his eyes out. Bless was kneeling on the floor trying to comfort him.

"M-my creator… why did you kill him?" he sobbed. This made Shadow feel guilty.

"He was evil." Shadow said.

"YOU'RE evil! You killed him!" he cried.

"You were trying to kill me… and you hurt Bless, because he told you. Now, I'm guessing you should come with us. You have no where else to go." Shadow said.

"Really? You want me to come with you?" he said, his face lighting up.

"Yep." he said, they all got up and left the building. "Now… you need a name." he said, while he was sniffing hard and drying his tears.

"Snuffle." Bless said. Shadow looked at her as if she were crazy. "What? It fits… look… it's all he's doing at the moment." she said, as the experiment snuffled a lot, he needed a tissue badly.

"True… but will he like it?" Shadow said in disbelief. Bless went to ask him.

"Do you want the name 'Snuffle?'" Bless asked him. He nodded. "YAY!" she squealed.

"You've had a… change of personality." Shadow sighed. "Did that hit to head do something to you?"

Bless thought for a moment. "Well… I… just don't see the point in being horrible to you… and… I've realised… that you really do care about me. What you said back there… when you thought you were going to die… it really moved me." she said, getting tears in her eyes. "You really do want the best for me."

"I'm glad you finally see it that way." Shadow hugged her, he stiffened up as he felt another set of arms join them. It was Snuffle, he was hugging them too. "What are you doing?" he frowned at him.

"Dad… cut him some slack… he's a part of our family now." Bless said, and hugged Snuffle while Shadow stood back feeling unsure about this. Shadow began to clear his throat loudly and noticeably "What?"

"You do realise that… he was made with _our_ blood. Meaning he's kind of like… incest…"

"No… he's not… like makes it sound like we… you know… and we didn't. So he isn't." she said, frowning at him. "Don't you ever say that again."

"I'm his father… and grandfather… and… you're his mother… and sister." Shadow said, his mind deep in thought, the concentration showing on his face.

"Haha… at least I have the younger sounding relations…" she smirked. They walked on. "He needs clothes." she said, looking at his bare body.

"Let's go to the ARK. I'm sure there will be spare pairs of my shoes and gloves." Shadow said, he held out the chaos emerald, they both grabbed onto him. "Chaos Control!"

There was a flash all around them and they found themselves somewhere different. Shadow looked around, and headed for the room he was created in. The ARK was in such a stale and musty state but he found his way. He looked in the cupboard in the corner of the lab. "Here." he said and gave a pair of his shoes, socks and gloves. Snuffle looked just like him now, only he didn't have the inhibitor rings. "Let's go back to Mobius…" Shadow said, taking one last look at the lab.

Then they latched onto him and he teleported them back down to the planet below. Bless started to look anxious. "Dad, this is turning into a little group here… we're going to be noticed a lot easier than we would have before."

"We just need to lie low… don't draw attention to yourself. And if necessary we split up at times." Shadow said. Where they were was pretty deserted, it wasn't an important part of the city, so it wasn't a priority to repair. "Also, we need to find a bathroom." he said.

"Why… you need to go?" Bless asked.

"No… Snuffle… he also needs to learn what one is." he said, looking at Snuffle who was leaking as they walked. Bless started to giggle.

"He hasn't even been toilet trained." she giggled. Shadow pushed him over to the wall.

"Do it against the wall, not on the shoes." Shadow growled, and left him to do his business. "Looks like we have a little task on our hands." Shadow sighed as Snuffle walked back to them wondering what he'd done wrong. "Do you have any idea what you were doing?"

"No… I've never done that before… isn't it… normal?" he said, looking innocent and confused. Shadow sighed, Kane had taught the quickly grown hedgehog nothing.

"Come on… let's go somewhere to talk about it." he said while sighing. It was like bringing up a toddler all over again.

**Sorry about the short chapter there. It's getting late… X3 At least this is the second update today :D**

**Lucy Labrador **


	17. Chapter 17

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 17: A Place To Stay**

**I think this story will be coming to an end soon. I'll try and reach 20 chapters… that's my goal. :) **

The three of them were now travelling together. After a long week they seemed to have a good result out of Snuffle. No more accidents, but they had something even worse to resolve. They had been noticed by GUN, and they were being hunted. So they had to hide now, but where? Every corner they turned, led to more soldiers, so they were constantly fighting and running from them.

They needed to find somewhere they could stay and hide. So, they began to look and investigate. Soon enough, they found an old building, that had red and black hedgehogs like them entering and exiting it every so often, they had found their shelter.

They knocked on the little door in the alleyway, and red eyes looked through the little hatch on it. The hedgehog from inside could see them, so they opened the door and let then inside. They all had to go down the stairs and go through a high security door. Inside, looked like a world of pain.

It was full of hedgehogs like them, about fifty of them, some with children, it was pretty dark in there, only dim lights to show them the way. They had all stayed like this to escape from the concentration camps. And the state, wasn't that much better than the camps either.

The male hedgehog that had opened the door, looked at Bless, he looked at her whole body then her face. "Hi." he said in a seductive voice.

"Do you do that to every girl that comes through the door?" Shadow growled.

"Uh... I'm sorry, is she yours?" he said nervously to Shadow. Shadow stared at him, his death stare eating away at the boy's confidence. He had red and black fur like everyone in the room, red eyes like everyone in the room, he had short spikes at the back of his head and a long fringe that stuck out in front of him. The tips of his quills and fringe were red. He wore a spiked choker around his neck, a red and black t shirt and black trousers, he wore big black shoes. He was one of the males who had chosen to wear clothes.

"Yes, she's my daughter." Shadow replied in a hard tone.

"Dad, it's okay." Bless said, smiling back at him.

"But… we're all related." Shadow said.

"Only distantly. I've never seen him before in my life, I've never seen anyone in this room before… I haven't had any kids so it's not like It's my grandchild or anything." Bless said.

"Well, I had kids so he's one of my great grandchildren." Shadow growled.

"Dad, you can't be the boss of my love life, I'm old now, I'm not a kid." She frowned at him.

"So… what's your name?" the hedgehog said in a manly tone.

"Bless." she said. "And that's my father, Shadow." she pointed to Shadow who was stood by the side of them, watching the boy's every move.

"Shadow the…?" he said.

"I dunno… hedgehog?" Shadow said sounding annoyed. "What are you on about?"

"Shadow the fourth? Fifth? You know… which one are you?" he asked. Shadow cleared his throat nervously.

"Shadow… the… first." Shadow said slowly. The boy's eyes widened. "Yeah, I know…" Shadow said nervously and ran off into the crowd.

"So… you're the daughter of _the _Shadow… I've met Shadow the second, his grandchild before, but I never thought I'd meet one of his kids before… this is an honour."

Bless giggled, "I've never thought of myself to be so liked before. So… mind telling me your name?"

"My name's Demon." he said. "I'm from one of the latest generations." he said, "I'm from the ninth… so I'm like one of your… great, great, great, great, great… and so on," he thought for a second. "… distant nephew."

"That relation doesn't count. We're not related." Bless smiled. "Now, tell me more about yourself." she said and they went somewhere to sit down and talk.

Snuffle had gone off after Shadow, but had gotten lost in the large crowd of people. Shadow managed to hide himself at the back of the room. About ten minutes later Snuffle found him and looked at him desperately. "Shadow." he said, "I really have to go."

Shadow sighed deeply and buried his face in his hands. "I can't take you now… I don't know where the bathroom is." Shadow said.

"Please Shadow, it's coming." he whined, holding himself and wiggling like mad. When Snuffle acted like this, it made him feel so frustrated that he had the same voice and body as him.

"Fine… I'll ask someone." Shadow sighed, he took him by the wrist and walked to someone on the outside of the crowd. "Hey, can you show me where the bathroom is?" he said, motioning to Snuffle who was crossing his legs and holding himself.

"Umm… it's in a door on the other side of the room." he said, and pointed into the direction of the side of the room he they needed to go to.

"Thanks." Shadow said and dragged Snuffle through the crowd. They got to the other side of the room, there were too doors. One had a poorly made men sign on, and one had a poorly made woman's side on. But outside were about ten hedgehogs waiting to go inside. "Huh… there's a queue. You're gonna have to wait a while Snuffle." Shadow said, putting him on the end of the queue. "I'll leave you here, and you'd better behave yourself, no cutting into the line, you can wait." Shadow said sternly and went to sit alone again.

Every few minutes more hedgehogs would come out of the room and more would join the line, but the line stayed the same length because there was a balance in people joining and leaving. Eventually, Snuffle was right by the door.

Shadow was sat nearby, peeking through the crowds to see if Snuffle wasn't playing dirty, and cutting in front of a desperate child or something. He didn't. He saw him go inside.

Snuffle smiled and went inside the room, but what he saw filled his face with terror. Many more hedgehogs, all waiting to use one of the three stalls. He groaned as he realised he would have to wait longer.

Shadow was still sat down waiting for Snuffle to come back out and pester him again. "I wonder what's taking him so long?" Shadow said to himself, he hadn't come out of there for a full ten minutes. He became worried about him, and went to look for him. He went to the door.

"Hey, get in line!" said one of the men in the line.

"Sorry, I'm just checking on someone… I'm not using the bathroom…" he said, they still weren't satisfied with his answer. "I'm going in there." he said in a hard tone and went inside.

Then he saw it, another batch of hedgehogs waiting to use the toilets. And amongst them, was Snuffle, bent over in pain, still holding himself. Shadow nodded his head to himself in realisation and left being met by the angry faces of before. He just gave them emotionless looks and went to sit back down again.

He looked the clock on the wall. It was getting late, nearly ten o'clock at night. Some hedgehogs that looked his age were putting younger ones to bed, the beds were just sleeping bags, and the females were now protecting their own small children from being trampled by others. Then he realised, those crowds weren't the people just crowding, it was them standing I their own living spaces, each family got about 3 square metres each, for there stuff and themselves. He noticed it, when people had settled down, there were dotted lines with numbers in them, all unprofessionally drawn.

He wondered if he and Bless would get a square. Things had quietened down for the children, it had quietened down so much you could hear the individual groans of hunger and discomfort, and stomachs growling, including his own. How much food did they all get?

He saw way in the corner was Bless and the boy she was with, in a square of their own. Sat in the square with them was another female, the man's mother perhaps? He couldn't tell, all of the adults in here were near roughly 15 year olds, and all looked the same. Maybe it was his sister, there was only one way to find out. **(No, not fight XD) **He walked up to them, stepping through the sleeping people.

"Hi." he said in an emotionless tone.

"Hello… what do you want?" the woman said in an annoyed tone.

"I'm Bless's father." he said.

"Oh, Shadow the first." she said, as if she were trying to be sexy. Shadow sighed, he knew where the boy got his charms from. "Hi, I'm Venom. Demon's mother."

"I'm supposing Demon is this guy here." Shadow said, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Dad, don't be like that. Please." Bless said, she turned to Demon. "Don't listen to him Demon."

"I'm okay. And Don't worry Shadow, I won't hurt her." he said.

"Shadow…" he heard Snuffle's whining voice. He went over to him to see what was wrong. "I… didn't make it fully…" he whispered to him, Shadow looked down at his legs, they were slightly damp. Shadow sighed at this.

"I don't blame you really… that was a long line…" he said. "I wonder if there's anywhere to clean up." Shadow said, looking around. He took Snuffle back to Bless and the others, he decided to ask them. "Is there any where Snuffle can clean himself up?" he asked,

"Umm… no… sorry. We're running out of water, he's gonna have to wait until the morning, someone comes around to fill these little basins with water." Demon said, pointing to the little bowl they had. "They might give you three one… you'll need a space of your own too."

"Yeah…" Shadow said, "Are there any free ones?" Shadow asked, looking around.

"There is one, over there, number 12... It used to belong to a guy… but he got captured lately. So it's free."

"So, who do we ask?" Shadow said.

"Ask? You just take it, and they'll register you in the morning." Demon said. Shadow took Snuffle to the area, it was theirs now. Snuffle sat down looking uncomfortable, he started to scratch his legs. "Shadow, it's getting itchy." Snuffle complained.

"You're gonna have to put up with it." Shadow said. Snuffle gave him puppy dog eyes. "I don't have anything for you to clean yourself." he said, looking over to Bless. "She'd better not be spending all night with him." he said.

"But… you can't be like that to her… she's an adult now." Snuffle said.

"So, you do talk sense." Shadow said, "You're right… I gotta cut her some slack… I vowed to protect her… but not to over protect her." he said, he lay down on the hard floor, so did Snuffle.

"Shadow… I'm hungry." Snuffle groaned. Shadow just growled at him, rolled over and ignored it. This would be a long night. "Please Shadow…"

"No, there's no food here. We're probably gonna be given something in the morning. But don't expect anything big." Shadow said.

"But, I'm starving."

"Well, so am I and you don't here me complaining about it." Shadow said in an angry voice.

"You just did complain." Snuffle said.

"Ugh! Go to sleep!" Shadow growled and covered his ears.

"Yeah, shut up!" came another voice from the room. Snuffle was then silent. The lights were out and there was no more noise apart from breathing. He soon fell asleep.

When Shadow woke up in the morning he groggily looked around the room, Snuffle wasn't there any more. "Probably in the bathroom again." he sighed. He went to look. He wasn't there. He went to Bless who was sleeping beside Demon. "Bless, have you seen Snuffle?"

"Umm… no." she said, "Why, can't you find him?" she asked. Shadow nodded. "Oh no… what if he left?" at this, Shadow's eyes went wide, so did Bless'

"Who's in charge!" Shadow yelled, waking the people who were still asleep up. A girl who looked rather grouchy stepped up and looked towards him.

"Me… and there was no need to wake everyone up." she growled.

"You! You're in charge!" Bless said in a shocked voice.

"Yes." she said. Shadow looked confused. "You have no idea who I am, do you?" she said, Shadow nodded his head. "I am Darkness." she said. "Shadow the Second's daughter."

"Hey… nice to meet you… umm… I think a friend of ours left, and he might get hurt. Do you have any idea of where he might of gone, did anyone see him leave?" Shadow asked.

"Oh no, what if he's hurt." Bless said worriedly. "Please tell us everything you know." she begged.

"I did see someone leave… he was red and black." she smirked sinisterly at Bless. This made Bless growl.

"You have to stop this… I can see you two hate each other for some unknown reason, but Snuffle could be hurt."

"I'll get the reports." she said and went to the desk at the exit and asked for the report from the person sitting at the desk, "Here it is. Someone left at 10:20pm last night. Their description fits your appearance… a part from the hair-

"That's him! Damn! What if he got himself captured?" Shadow said looking worried.

"Also, intelligence reports say that one extra hedgehog was captured last night, at approximately the time he had left. Sorry, but he's a goner, he's not coming back." she said and walked off.

"No! GUN have him… I'm gonna get him back!" he said and ran out of the door.

"Dad, no!" Bless yelled but Shadow was already gone.

"Sorry Bless, but I think you just lost your dad too." Demon said. "No one returns from those concentration camps… they have such high security."

"I have, and so will he. He's the ultimate life form, and he can do it." she said.

"Oh really?" Darkness said, coming over. "They caught my dad over fifty years ago while he was out getting food supplies… haven't heard anything from his since and we probably never will." she said. "And the same is happening to you dad right now!" she teased and walked off arrogantly.

"What's up with her? Sounds like she hates you." Demon said.

"It's… a long story. I know dad's coming back… he's the original, _the _Shadow, he can do this." she said, having faith in Shadow. Now all they had to do was wait.

**A bit of a cliff-hanger there. **

**Lucy Labrador **


	18. Chapter 18

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 18: Imprisoned For Who They Are**

**Oh, thanks for all of those reviews, I now have over 50. And, **

**To Fire shell. **

**Yes, this story is going quite fast. Woops, I tend to do that. :S**

**On with the next chapter. And I'll try and slow it down. **

As he left the building and walked out into the street, he felt his heart racing. He was out in the open, he could get caught any second. He asked himself. _How do I get into GUN__…__ or one of those concentration camps. _If it was such high security then he wouldn't get in by force, though he did have a chaos emerald. He went through his options while walking through the streets. "So… Chaos Control it is." he said to himself, when suddenly he was grabbed by something metallic.

It made him jump, he struggled and cried out, but it wasn't letting go. He had never come across a GUN robot this strong before. "YOU-ARE-UNDER-ARREST!" it said in it's emotional robotic voice.

Shadow continued to struggle, he couldn't get captured or he'd never get to Snuffle- _YES! _Of course he was, what was he thinking? He realised that may have been his easiest option, to get captured himself to get inside and then free Snuffle.

He struggled a little bit to play along with it all, but now he wanted to get captured. After a while it brought him to a GUN base where he was put into really strong cuffs and put him onto a jet plane. "Where are you taking me?" he asked him, trying to sound a little bit scared, but he wasn't, he was only a little bit nervous.

"Don't you know rodent? We're taking you to a concentration camp." said one of the GUN soldiers. "Isn't great?" he said turning to his colleagues, "This is the second one this week." he gloated. "You really should have been more careful." he sneered at Shadow and slammed the door. Shadow was left in the dark storage of the Jet.

After an hour of flying, they had gotten there. Vehicles had certainly gotten a lot faster over those two hundred years. They brought him inside the premises where he was checked in onto the computer. "And notice there aren't any check outs." the soldier escorting him said.

Shadow gulped a little, he would have liked to have told someone it was part of the act, but in truth he was getting very nervous. They brought him through the hallways where he passed by many cells full of hedgehogs like him. There were more of them, they all came from him and they were all suffering badly. How were there so many?

None of them ever died, so while mortals died and the population stayed the same, these hedgehogs kept reproducing and staying alive and were always able to reproduce. So the population of Black Arms- Hedgehogs kept rising and rising.

What had he done? From two children, he had created mass suffering of his kind. GUN had tried sterilisation in the past, but it never worked, their bodies would always find a way around it.

Then Shadow noticed him, he passed the cell that had Snuffle. He was in a cell with several other hedgehogs and he looked very upset. "Snuffle!" Shadow called out. Snuffle ran to the bars and watched Shadow get dragged on by.

"Shadow!" he cried out, but he was then out of site.

So, Shadow was shoved in a cell that had big thick bars, impossible to fit through or break. There was only one hedgehog in this cell so far so he didn't have as much company as Snuffle did. But he noticed, this hedgehog looked a lot like him. It looked just like him, only he wore different clothes, he had the same hair and everything. "Um, Hi." Shadow said to him.

"Hi." he said sadly, while lying on his bed. "So… what's your name?" he asked, not looking at him.

"Shadow." he told him. That's when he took a look at Shadow.

"No wonder you're called Shadow… you look just like the original… like I do." the prisoner sighed. He didn't sound like Shadow, his voice was a little higher pitched and all enthusiasm was gone from it, there was hardly any emotion in his voice. "My name's Shadow too… so, what are you, Shadow the…"

"First." Shadow said, and his look alike sat up in shock. Shadow became nervous, he couldn't run this time.

"Y-you're the original! You're my grandfather!" he yelled and got up, he hugged him. "I've always wanted to meet you!" he said, squeezing him tight. "This is an honour." he said, now standing in front of him.

"Wow… um… thanks." Shadow said, unsure of what to say. "Now… when are we going to be let out of our cells… I think that will be my only chance to escape." This made the younger Shadow frown.

"We're never let out of our cells. You're never going to escape." he said. This made Shadow's eyes widen. "I'm sorry." he said in a sad voice and sat back down on his bed again.

"But… I came here… to break out my friend, Snuffle." he said. "And now I'm going to be trapped too? Do you think his cell mates are treating him okay?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure they will… we're all in this together, we favour all of our kind over those humans, so if your friend treats them right, then they will treat him right. After all this isn't prison, prisons are for those who had actually done wrong."

Shadow sighed, he was okay. "This is a concentration camp, where we're all bunched together in these tiny cells, because of who we are."

"I'm so sorry." Shadow said, looking to the floor in shame.

"Why are you sorry? It's not your fault."

"It's because I decided to have children that it happened! Well… I didn't exactly _decide_…" he said nervously.

"You can't blame yourself for this… you would have had kids sooner or later. It wouldn't have been stopped… and… we're no harm, it's GUN's fault for doing this to us."

"You think so much differently to Bless then… she hated me… I think she only likes me now because I helped her… she thinks I'm the blame for her suffering."

"Bless is your daughter right?" Shadow the second said, the original nodded. "She and my daughter do not get along." he sighed.

"I saw that there was some sort of hatred between them." Shadow said. "Darkness it your daughter right?" the younger one nodded. "Do you know why they hated each other."

Darkness' father smiled. "Well… first of all, I wanna say I'm so glad she's still free… and… it's a long story between them… stuff happened and they hate each other now. Just silly girl things… you know how they are."

"I see… so… I'm stuck here now… damn it, I am not accepting that! I must save you all!"

"All of us? Shadow… there are thousands of us in here… this camp can hold up to fifty thousand of us, so I'm told. This place is nearly full. Eventually we're going to have more of our kind joining us in this cell, until it's full like the others.

"There are only four beds in here though." Shadow said, referring to the two bunk beds either side of the room.

"They don't care." he said. "They _like _to see us suffer."

"Just… how many decedents do I have?" Shadow said in a shaky voice.

"Well, I know that before I was captured about fifty years ago, there was about… thirty thousand of us…. And over the last fifty years… it's got to at least doubled! More than that even, some people like to have lots of kids…"

"Damn…" Shadow said in frustration. "This has gone completely out of hand… and it's my fault."

"Don't blame yourself… I told you…" he sighed. "I won't bother… it looks like you're the kind that likes to blame himself for everything." he sulked on the bed, the older Shadow sat down on the bed on the opposite side of the room.

Shadow thought to himself for a while, he had to escape. Maybe if he used a chaos blast, they hadn't thought to take his emerald. YES! He could use chaos control. "I know, I'll use chaos control to get me out of here… Damn I'm such an idiot sometimes, I forgot all about it." he said, and smiled.

"Oh… no… don't use chaos control…" the other Shadow said.

"Why not… they'll find me again? I don't care, I'm trying! What's the worse that could happen!" Shadow said.

"I've heard bad things happen to those who use chaos control." he said.

"I really don't care… I have to try… no matter what happens to me." Shadow said in an determined voice. He got out the emerald and began to conjure up all the power he could. "Grab on if you want to come." Shadow said to him, but his look alike only tried to move away from him.

"You may be ready for what happens to you, but I'm not." he said and stayed where he was.

"I'm not gonna argue with you… I will get you all out someday. Chaos Control!" he yelled and disappeared in a flash.

His surroundings changed immediately, but not to what he had expected. He was hoping to be back at the shelter, but instead he was in a small room with several others in. They all looked drained, almost as if they were rotting away. "What's this-" he choked as he realised he couldn't breathe. Then he saw it on the wall, the note, the information.

This was the default room, anyone who did chaos control within the camp's premises, would end up here, there was no oxygen in there so no way of breathing. They wouldn't be brought any food so they would be left to rot away, while still living.

They were all on the floor in pain, drained of power, drained of oxygen and water, completely withering away in agony. Some looking more drained than others. His grandson was right, bad things did happen and he was so glad that he hadn't made him come along. "Welcome… to hell." one of the female hedgehogs on the floor rasped.

"No… way…" Shadow said, there was about twenty of them, all laying on the floor, some groaning in pain some in so much pain they were unable to make a noise. "I'm getting you all out of here." Shadow said, being able to withstand the lack of oxygen better than them. "Grab onto me…"

"No way, what if there's something even worse… you'd be a fool to test this." the woman said.

"Suit yourself, I'm finding out." Shadow said and did chaos control again.

This time he was in a similar room, it wad the same but with less people and it was scorching hot in there. There was a message on the wall of this one too.

This was the second default room, for those who think it would be smart to test the system, they would be drained of everything and also have to put up with an awful heat.

Shadow started to feel dizzy, he looked at the hedgehogs all gasping in pain, unable to sweat as they had no water inside them any more and burning in agony. He did it again. "Chaos control!" he said again.

Now it was getting scary. He got inside and he felt an awful pain all over his body, he fell to his knees and looked around him, the beings inside were no longer alive, they were dead and just skeletons. "But… we're immortal." he choked through the pain, he saw the message on the wall.

This was the third default room, only crazy people would go here. Prisoners of this room would be given this awful pain through a gas that was released, it slowly consumed them until there was only bone left.

"No!" Shadow cried out. "Chaos control!" he yelled.

The pain ceased and he coughed and spluttered and fell to the floor in exhaustion. He managed to look around him, and see where he was. Around him was a few humans. "Well done… you've cracked our system… never has anyone been able to get through those default rooms… now, if you're smart you won't attack us…"

"Like hell I wont! How could you do that to them! I saw them, the pain they were going through it was… awful…" he said, his voice going weak I the end. "What are you going to do to me now?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"So hedgehog…. What's your name…?" the man in the unique uniform asked.

"You tell me yours first." Shadow rasped.

"My name is Aaron Towers." he said. "Now tell me your name…"

"I'm… Shadow… the first…" he said nervously. Tower was the commander's first name.

"Oh yes… one of my very great grandfathers hated you." this made Shadow feel a little uneasy. "You're supposed to be in the stasis pod at our previous base."

"Well… I was freed… now I demand for you to let everyone go…" Shadow ordered in a bold voice.

"If you can defeat me then… I shall." the new commander said.

"Bring it on you pathetic human!" Shadow said in a terrifyingly determined voice, his voice full of anger and power.

Shadow leaped at Aaron but was thrown back by something, a force field of some sort. The commander took out a small metal device out from his pocket. Shadow skidded across the floor and hit the wall and looked at this device confusedly. "This device, when turned on, creates an invisible shield around me, you have no chance hedgehog." he said triumphantly. He got out a gun and shot at Shadow.

Shadow forced himself to use some of him remaining chaos energy to make a chaos spear that countered the bullet and better yet shoot at Aaron. But the chaos spear only bounced of the shield and his Shadow right in the face. He cried out in pain holding the side of his face tightly, it had scraped the side of his eyes.

"I'm not as pathetic as you thought hedgehog… now give it up and go back to your cell."

"No… if I'm the strongest out of all of them… and I can't even defeat you… then neither can they… you've gotta let them go." Shadow said while in pain. "Please… or I'll chaos blast you all to oblivion!" he said, getting up with a struggle.

"There is not enough room in the world for all of those monsters." Aaron said.

"No… the world needs repairing and rebuilding. Think of the many thousands of them, with their skills, helping to rebuild the world." Shadow said.

"What, eighty-eight thousand of you hybrids roaming the whole of Mobius? I don't think so."

"What… eighty-eight thousand compared to the billions of humans… I don't think they'll be a problem, please…" he said, getting desperate. "This is ridiculous. Think of the work we'd get done… make a deal with them, if they work they're free to go for life… I'm begging you… anything."

"The ultimate life form is… begging? I never thought I'd see this." Aaron smirked and teased. "You've reached a new low."

"I'll tell you who's low! You humans! You're scared of us, and most of us wouldn't hurt a fly! We could do this planet good, and all you do is lock us up, it's you that's in the wrong here!" his eyes turned a blazing red. "I suggest you let us go before you make me even angrier!"

"Okay okay!" he said quickly. "You're all free to go… just… don't blow us up…" he said in a cowardly voice.

After a few hours a planning, all of the hedgehogs were let out of the cell and put into the boats and planes to be teleported back to the mainland. This was just an island of course, like prison island. There was mass celebration from the hedgehog hybrids and they couldn't wait too get home to their families.

The surviving hedgehogs were let out of the default rooms and treated, but they had a long road to recovery.

Shadow and Snuffle got back to the shelter to find all of the hedgehogs leaving and looking for new lives in this free world. Shadow was so glad to see Bless again and we happy to see the other Shadow being reunited with his daughter. It had all turned out perfectly. "Dad… I have something to tell you." Bless said to him while they walked away. Shadow nodded and listened. "I'm… pregnant."

Shadow looked at her in shock then turned to Demon, who looked guilty. Shadow couldn't believe it.

**That was a long chapter. Nearly 3000 words :D.**

**Lucy Labrador **


	19. Chapter 19

**What A Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 19: More Babies!**

**Only 2 more chapters to go, but if I don't fit everything I need in these chapters there will be more. But 20 is the target! Thanks for the reviews everyone, it's nearly 60 :D**

Shadow continued to look at the two of them in shock, Snuffle just stood behind Shadow awkwardly, not understanding what was going on. "Dad… are you angry?" Bless said nervously in a quiet voice.

"No… but you!" he said furiously to Demon. "You'd better treat her and the baby right!" he hissed.

"He will dad." she said.

"He'd better." Shadow said making fists. Demon gulped. "Or I'm going to knock some sense into him."

"You're not going to expect marriage now are you?" Bless asked, still feeling nervous about talking to Shadow about this.

"No… not many people get married these days anyway… just make sure the baby has a good life." Shadow said calmly and walked off, Snuffle trailed along behind him like a lost puppy.

"Shadow…" he said in a curious voice. Shadow sighed and signalled for him to carry on. "What does pregnant mean?" he asked. Shadow looked at him with a wide eyes expression. He wasn't as shocked that he didn't know what it was, he knew Snuffle wasn't that bright, he was shocked that he would have to explain it to him.

"Here we go…" he sighed and started to explain what it meant. Now Snuffle was the one with the wide eyes expression, that soon turned to a look of jealously. He started to pout. "What now?" Shadow asked.

"She's going to forget about me." Snuffle complained.

"No she's not… and if she does, you still have me." Shadow said.

"But… you can be mean sometimes…" he said in a timid voice. This made Shadow sigh deeply. "Who am I going to go to when you upset me?"

"You are way too honest…" he moaned. "I don't know… I'll just… try not to be mean okay?" he said in a frustrated voice. "Look, it'll be okay… you've got another nine months before the baby is born." Shadow reassured him. "You can spend time with her until then."

"But… she has that… boy friend… he ruined everything… we used to be a team… and he took it away from us." he complained.

"I know." Shadow said sadly. "But she's moved on… she's finally an adult now, we have to let her go." he said and they started to walk on some more.

The hedgehog hybrids slowly made their way back into normal life. Other Mobians accepted them a lot quicker than the humans did, but eventually it all worked out. There was still some people who didn't like it, but they would have to put up with it since they were there to stay. They helped the economy. Tens of thousands of them, helping the world return to it's fixed and happy state, made it change back a lot faster.

All of the danger from Iblis had been destroyed, all of the lava streams had set and cooled, and they were able to lay tarmac and cement there over it. It was now a lot safer and people could walk on the original ground again, which had risen because of the setting lava.

Shadow got his own small house, which consisted of one small living room, a kitchen, a small bathroom and two bedrooms. One bedroom was his and the other's was Snuffle's.

Bless had gotten a house near by, which was similar to Shadow's only it had a different layout. One bedroom was her and Demon's and the other was for the baby when it would be born.

It was being paid for by the council for the time being, but they would all get jobs soon to pay for it themselves, it seemed everyone was doing that now, but jobs were being created slowly, eventually most people would have one.

Another person who was living near by was Venom, Demon's mother. Shadow didn't like her very much. She was cocky and kept trying to win Shadow over by being seductive. It would never work on Shadow, only annoy him.

Months flew by and Bless was getting big and she wasn't enjoying it. It was early time for the baby to be born and she couldn't wait for it to come out. She couldn't do anything herself, she couldn't walk for a long time, Demon had to do many things for her so she didn't have to get up.

This reminded Shadow of Maria's pregnancies, and how much he missed those times. When he and her were together as a young married couple. He missed her so much. Bless and Demon noticed this and decided to talk to him. So, the next time he visited, they brought it up. "Dad… you seem a bit lonely." Bless said.

"I'm not lonely… I have all of you." he said in an unenthusiastic voice.

"Not like that… I think you should get a girl friend." Bless said. Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"Are you crazy… do you really think I would betray Maria like that?" he hissed. "After all she went through for me, do you really think I'd do that?" anger now obvious in his voice.

"Whoa… sorry… we just thought you would like to meet someone new." Bless said getting worried. "You're just, always so grumpy."

"This is my usual self. What I'm like without Maria." he said. "Don't try anything to cheer me up. It isn't going to work."

"Is our love making you jealous?" Demon asked. Bless jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, but it was too late, he had said it.

"I…. no… it just reminds me of when I had Maria… and she was pregnant… I miss her so much…" he said sounding sad. He sighed, "I'm going home."

"But you've only been here five minutes." Bless said. Shadow ignored what she said and left. "Well… that went well." she said sarcastically.

Shadow thought more and more about what they said and he went to the person he thought he would have the biggest chances with. Venom. She was so into him, and she would definitely take him. So, he went to her house, but as he walked past the window he saw her with another red and black hedgehog.

This made Shadow sigh, he's been beaten… by- "Snuffle!" Shadow said to himself and stepped back, the two of them were kissing. "At least he's grown up." he sighed and walked home to sulk.

He sat on his bed feeling depressed, maybe his time had gone already, he'd already had his fun and now he was supposed to live out the rest of eternity alone. He did what he hadn't done in a while, cry.

He was alone, in his empty house, no one would see him, it would be okay. As he thought. "Aww… don't cry hedgehog." he heard an evil voice say. Shadow stiffened up, he had herd that voice way too many times. "The tears wont help anyway…" it hissed and came out from the shadows of the corner of the bedroom.

It was the evil look alike who had taken his form, Mephiles. "You again, what do you want now?" Shadow said angrily getting up off his bed.

"What I told you the last time… I like to see you suffer and torturing you is so much fun." he teased, "It's been a long time hedgehog… let's see how much time has taken it's toll on you and your skills!" he said a leaped at Shadow, tackling him to the floor in a flash. "I must say, you're reactions have slowed down a lot." he said, holding him to the floor while Shadow struggled to get out of his grasp.

Shadow managed to kick him in the stomach and send him flying into the ceiling, then he plummeted to the floor. Shadow aimed a chaos spear at him but Mephiles was able out move out of the way so Shadow got the floor instead, leaving a giant scorch mark in his carpet. "Too slow." Mephiles jeered.

This made Shadow angry, he kicked Mephiles in the face and pushed him against the wall, making a dent in it. With him cornered he impaled him with a chaos spear through the chest again and snapped his neck. Mephiles' form evaporated and went through the window. "Damn it… I need the sceptre of darkness!" he said, slamming his fist on the wall. "Next time Mephiles…" he said with determination.

A few days later he went to visit Bless and Demon again. When he got there, Venom was there too, so was Snuffle but he was sat the opposite side of the room to Venom. "Oh Shadow, it's good that you're here, Venom was about to tell us all something." Bless said and he joined them.

"Well, I have some news… I… had this 'one night stand.' and now… I'm pregnant." Venom said. "And… I don't remember who it was… I was kind of drunk." she said nervously.

Shadow wasn't believing it. He walked over to Snuffle and took him into the kitchen to talk in private. "Snuffle… I think you may know who this man is." Shadow said. Snuffle just looked to the ground nervously. "I saw you with her last night." he said. Snuffle's eyes widened. "What happened?" he said in a threatening tone.

"She told you okay… I'm the guy… but she's too embarrassed to admit it's me… she thinks it'll never be able to control it's bladder like me…" he sulked. "But that's not true! I can control it… I make it nearly every time now!"

This made Shadow sigh. "Yes Snuffle-" then the door opened all of the sudden. Venom was there looking angry. Snuffle gulped.

"I told you not to tell anybody!" She screamed.

"He got it out of me… he worked it out! He saw us in your house last night." Snuffle said.

"Why were you at my house?" Venom said looking worried.

"Well… I was actually coming to ask if you wanted to actually try being together… but Snuffle got there first." Shadow said, not sounding that bothered.

"NO!" she screamed. "If I hadn't let that little rat in, I would have been pregnant with your child! I'm a failure!" she sobbed and left.

"Snuffle, you'd better go after her." Shadow said. Snuffle shook his head looking afraid. "Why not?"

"She's scary." he said. "She threatened to kill me if anyone found out about this."

"She can't kill you, you're way more powerful than her… now go and talk to her!" Shadow said like an angry parent, Snuffle reluctantly went out of the house to go and find her.

"Well… that was different." Demon said. "Her and Snuffle…" he said sounding confused. "I thought that would have been impossible."

The time came and Bless started to go into labour, Shadow and Demon took her to the hospital, they called Snuffle and Venom and they showed up too. As Bless lay in the bed in pain awaiting the delivery, the rest of them sat in an awkward Silence.

Venom wasn't speaking to Shadow of Snuffle and Snuffle wasn't speaking to Venom. Then Bless screamed, "Just talk, this is so awkward, or get out!" she yelled.

Snuffle and Venom left, Shadow stayed inside with Bless. "I'm so sorry about this…" he said.

"It's not your fault they're being like the with each other." Bless said. "and if you're saying it in a way that you're taking responsibility for Snuffle, then don't, because he's mine too."

"Yeah…" Shadow sighed.

"That sounds so wrong." Demon said. They looked at him with wide eyes. "I do know the situation… it just sounds weird." he said quickly.

"Wait, does Venom know about it?" Shadow said.

"Uh oh… I don't think so… she may just think that you're just friends with him." Demon said looking shocked. "Oh well, she'll find out sooner or later." Demon said calming down.

Bless got another contraction, these contractions came every ten minutes, but the gaps were now getting smaller. The doctors said the baby will have been with them within a couple of hours. A long time to spend in pain though. "This sucks…" Bless groaned. "Why did this have to happen?"

"It's okay Bless, within a couple of hours, you'll have a baby in your arms." Demon said.

"But it's been hours already…" she moaned. "You'd think in two hundred years they would be able to come up with something to speed this along." she growled.

"Wait a minute… I heard they did… everyone gets it… why haven't you had it?" Demon said.

A while went by and a doctor came back in the room to check up on things. They asked him what was going on with the procedure. "Umm… you're not going to like it but… hedgehog-black arms hybrids don't get those." he said. They all gave him angry looks. "I don't make the rules… please don't hurt me." the human doctor said, he went out of the room in fear.

"That's not fair… this has been going on for ages…" she groaned.

"It's probably to encourage us to have less children…" Shadow said. "They want the number of us hedgehog-black arm hybrids to stay down."

"But… I didn't mean to get pregnant…" Bless said sadly. "I'm definitely not having any more after this." she said. There was another silence between them, they were still upset about what they had just found out. Then a look of anger was on Shadow's face, his wasn't taking any of it.

His hands rolled into fists and he bared his teeth. "Dad… please don't do this." Bless begged. "Now while I'm in labour…" she said. Shadow tried his best to calm down. "And, not at all… you'll just be giving them a reason to lock us up again." she said in a worried voice.

Through the pained and worried expression he could hear Maria urging him to be good. "Okay…" he said sadly facing the floor. "I'll try my best… but if you come to any harm…" he started to growl.

"No Shadow… it's my job to be angry if she get's hurt." Demon said.

"I'm going to go outside to cool off." Shadow said and went out of the room. What he saw out there made him widen his eyes. Venom was sat on one of the chairs while Snuffle was standing in the middle of the room over a little yellow puddle. "Snuffle!" he yelled running over to him. He looked over to Venom who was smirking. "What's going on here?" he said to her.

"I said I had to go… but she kept hold of me Shadow… I couldn't make it." Snuffle cried out, the puddle getting bigger.

"Why would you do that?" Shadow said to Venom looking angry.

"He needs to learn how to control his bladder… what else?" She said smartly.

"But me and Bless already did that! What is wrong with you!" he yelled and took Snuffle to the bathrooms to get cleaned up.

"I hate her…" Snuffle said.

"Me too… but you're the one who got her pregnant… now gain some responsibility." Shadow said sternly.

"But I'm not ready." he said innocently, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"Don't try that with me… if you could knock her up, then you're mature enough, now go and talk to her." Shadow said. Snuffle scowled at him a left.

Several hours later, Bless had her baby. They all crowded around to see the baby. It was a girl with the same features as any of their kind and Bless' eyes shape and a fringe showing already like Demons. She did look like her parents. They called her Ruth Doom.

They took her home earlier than normal Mobians or humans would since the hedgehogs-black arms hybrids were stronger and more immune to diseases and didn't need as much help to survive.

Now they would have to wait for Venom's child. Which came, three more times than wanted. In other words, they had triplets. They called them Snuggle, Septic and Wretch. They were all boys and all looked a lot like Snuffle, only had the evil and harsh look of Venom. Apart from Snuggle who just looked so cute, which is why they called him Snuggle.

So life was moving a long smoothly again for them all and Bless had finally settled down for good. Shadow no longer had too look after Snuffle, Snuffle had his own children to look after now.

He knew that it wouldn't last forever though, he knew he would turn into that monster someday, for now he would have to brace himself for it and wait.

**One more chapter to go. **

**Lucy Labrador**


	20. Chapter 20

**What a Long Hard Life**

**Chapter 20: The Long Awaited Transformation**

**From some reviews I can see that some of you are sad that this is ending. Aww… I never thought that this story was that good. I'm going on holiday tomorrow, but I might get internet there. If I don't you may not here from me until the beginning of next month. **

**I'm thinking of doing a spin off story about Bless. There were a few things in this story that didn't make full sense about her, wasn't there? So that spin off story will explain it all, from the time Shadow left to the time he returned. **

**Thanks for the many reviews and support in this story, I think it's safe to say that this had been a success. Thanks everyone. Now on to the last chapter. **

Decades passed and the children grew up and left home. They were all just like the adults now. Shadow was so happy that he was actually there to see the children grow, unlike the situation with Bless and Shade. They weren't his kids, but they were his grandkids and he loved to see them grow.

But then, a few decades later (as said before) it came. The terrifying transformation that he knew hardly anything about. He wasn't sure of what was going on at first but then he realised. He was in pain, a lot of pain. He was all alone in his house and there was no one to help him.

This went on for a while, Shadow crying out in agony until someone actually came but it wasn't who he wanted to see. It was Black Doom and he was looking at Shadow smugly. "You're enjoying this… aren't you?" Shadow shouted in anger while gritting his teeth in pain.

"You are finally transforming. You shall be perfect once this is done." Black Doom said, he did chaos control and they were not in a completely different world. It looked

like the Black Comet, but that had been destroyed.

"What is this place?" Shadow asked through the pain.

"This is the Black Comet Shadow… don't you recognise it?" Black Doom said in shock. Shadow looked at him in disbelief. "I repaired it…" he explained. "It took me a long time as well."

"I… see…" Shadow rasped, completely collapsing onto the floor. "Black Doom… is there any way of stopping this awful pain? My whole body is in agony." he choked.

"No, there is no way… it is a part of the transformation, but it is worth it…" Black Doom said. "I was similar to my offspring once, and after getting to the top and transforming, I became who I am now."

"So… you felt this pain too?" Shadow asked.

"Of course… thought I have a feeling that yours is worse since you're not fully one of our kind…" he said. This made Shadow feel frustrated.

"How long is this pain going to last?" Shadow asked, feeling weaker.

"A few days." Black Doom said. This made Shadow eye's widen. "I'm sure you'll be able to take it. You are the ultimate life form after all. And I shall give you advice to help you get through it." Shadow began to feel a warmth inside him that he's never felt from Black Doom before.

"So… you're actually helping me? Do you like me now?" Shadow asked. Black Doom nodded.

"Of course… our fighting had ended and you are my son after all." this made Shadow feel even warmer inside, was this love? He now loved his father, and it felt great as Black Doom loved him back.

Shadow never thought they could end up like a normal father and son, but they had.

Maybe Black Doom only liked him now because he would be more like him. "What changes will I go through Black Doom?" he asked.

"Well, you shall be stronger, you will have the ability to float around like me. You will never have to eat again, or breathe." Black Doom said. "You will also have the power to trap the essence of beings inside of you… gaining their powers also."

"That's… something I never knew about." Shadow said. "Gaining other people's power…" he started to think to himself.

But then his skin started to burn, like white hot fire. He screamed out in pain while his skin blazed. Black Doom noticed it was now slowly turning darker and darker until it was a jet black like Black Doom's. "It's finally starting." he said.

Shadow screamed out some more as his hands started to change. Four small fingers merging to create two big ones, and his feet shrinking as he wouldn't have to walk any more.

He continued to cry out at his teeth became sharper and so did his nose. Then worst of all, the chest fur. It all started to fall out, Shadow wanted to cry, he loved his chest fur. It was all now on the floor, gone from his chest to reveal a brand new red, Black Arms insignia.

Then he felt his insides churn, he began to vomit and choke as his digestive system was getting rid of itself with the acid in his stomach, he wouldn't be needing that any more.

Next, as he screamed he could hear his voice changing, it sounded like him still but it had the effect that Black Doom had to it. Through this transformation he had also lost a lot of fat, so his ribs were visible and so were his joints.

He hated this new look. All of this had happened of a painfully long three days, through a long process of changing. It was the worst experience Shadow had ever had. But now, he was gifted with power.

But how would he use it? He knew exactly what to do, he smirked. This is something he wanted to do for a long time, but was unable to do so. But now he had new abilities so it was possible. He had to find Mephiles.

This was it, he would finally defeat that fiend and get rid of him forever. Black Doom let him go to do as he wished for a while, so that gave him the chance. Finding Mephiles was easy as he came to him. Mephiles had done all of the work by finding Shadow, very convenient.

Shadow sneered at Mephiles, looking a lot more intimidating in this new form. "I told you so, hedgehog," Mephiles teased. "How does it feel?"

"It feels… wonderful." Shadow smirked, this made Mephiles' eyes widen.

"What?" he growled.

"I now have so much power, and so much potential." he said proudly and swung forward with his floating ability, grabbing Mephiles by the throat and squeezing it tight. Mephiles began to choke trying to get out of his grip.

"How are you doing this… you've never been able to do this so easily…" Mephiles struggled, he was the one who was afraid for one. Shadow snapped his neck again and sent a massive chaos spear through his heart. "I bet you didn't see that coming!" Shadow said confidently. He threw his arms out to his sides widely and concentrated his power.

As Mephiles turned into his mist form, Shadow absorbed it, every last drop of his form, Mephiles screamed out as he was pulled into Shadow's chest. He was trapped forever. As the last drop went in, the insignia flashed purple for a second the went back to red again.

Shadow felt proud of himself, Mephiles had finally been defeated for good and he was able to use his time travelling powers. He went to the year 3250, on the day of his capture by the commander.

He was in the building, so all he had to do was find him. He felt so determined and so alive with this power and couldn't wait to find the commander. He saw him, and he saw his older self getting captured, the afraid look on his face. It hurt him inside a little, but he couldn't let that get him down.

The captured Shadow was now fully unconscious and at the start of his 200 year sleep. But the Shadow from now was ready to pounce. The commander turned to leave, with a smirk on his face. Seeing the cocky look on his face made Shadow's blood boil.

He leapt at the commander, plunging his claws into his stomach and ripping his insides out, completely scraping all of this clothes and skin off with his claws until all was left was a mangled corpse in a massive puddle of blood.

Shadow made it as slowly as he could to hear those screams of fear and agony. He was now satisfied. Then, around the corner he saw Silver, with a shocked look on his face, he then disappeared.

It was now silent, Shadow was alone, with only his old self. He could have freed himself, if only he knew the password. He wouldn't want to change the past and cause a paradox anyway.

Now understanding everything, it was like his life had come full circle, he opened up a portal and floated inside of it, it was time to go back to the present time and return to Black Doom. He would start a new life of power and authority.

**That was quite a short chapter, but it's all there. So, HORRAY! It's finished! Please review! I'd like to see if this can reach 70 reviews :D**

**Lucy Labrador**


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